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- Are ECB’s Greek bond purchases really irrelevant for the private sector?
- Is Greg getting bailed out by his rich uncle?
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(Needless to say, I do not necessarily agree with them or endorse them.)
Category Archives: Macroeconomics
ECB, SMP (II): Direct vs. secondary purchases
In my recent post on the ECB’s Securities Market Programme (SMP), I noted that the programme was in violation of the Treaty of the European Union. I based this on Article 21.1, which states: “. . . overdrafts or any other type of credit facility with the ECB or with the national central banks in favour of Union institutions, bodies, offices or agencies, central governments, regional, local or other public authorities, other bodies governed by public law, or public undertakings of Member States shall be prohibited, as shall the purchase directly from them by the ECB or national central banks of debt instruments.” – Article 21.1 of “ON THE STATUTE … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Macroeconomics, Monetary policy
Tagged European Central Bank, Securities Markets Programme, Treaty on European Union
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ECB, SMP, ETC. Who pays for what?
After the financial crisis hit in 2008, new acronyms have been appearing at a rapid pace around the globe. These mainly describe the various measures taken by the world’s central banks to offset the troubles caused by the crisis. Many took the form of liquidity provisions to aid “frozen” banking markets. The European Central Bank launched on May 14, 2010 a so-called Securities Market Programme (SMP), under which it – temporarily – allows itself to purchase Euro denominated government bonds. In its decision, the ECB motivated the move by “ . . . in view of the current exceptional circumstances in financial markets, characterised by severe tensions in certain market … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Macroeconomics, Monetary policy
Tagged Central bank independence, central banks, European Central Bank, Financial crisis, Jean Claude Trichet, Marvin Goodfriend, Quantitative easing, Securities Markets Programme, Treaty on European Union
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Sveriges Riksbank raises rates again; Svensson dissents again
Yesterday, Sveriges Riksbank (central bank of Sweden) announced that it raised the main policy rate to 1.5%. This is the fifth consecutive 25 basis point increase since last summer. It also marks the twelfth time in a row that Executive Board Member, and Deputy Governor of the Bank, Lars Svensson dissents by voting for a looser stance (in this case he advocated an unchanged rate). The last time he agreed with an interest rate decision was in February 2009. The Inflation-Targeting Riksbank makes all this information publicly available on their web site (see the voting records here). This high degree of transparency is not uncommon among inflation targeting central banks, … Continue reading
Mankiw on Obama’s weak sports analogy
Most are aware that N. Gregory Mankiw is an outstanding economist and economics educator. So this post will merely be a recommendation of his recent article in the New York Times: “Emerging Markets as Partners, Not Rivals“. Inspired by Barack Obama’s recent State of the Union address, where the US president multiple times noted that the US should “win the future”, Mankiw obviously has felt a need to explain that economics is generally not a zero-sum game. As usual, he does an excellent job!
Posted in Economists, Macroeconomics, Trade
Tagged Barack Obama, Emerging markets, N. Gregory Mankiw
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Simple Policy Rules or Simple Consumption Rules? A Semi-serious Comparison Based on Brain Usage
Let me start this post with a warning. As indicated by the title, it will involve semi-serious thoughts, which in this case is equivalent to semi-humorous thoughts. So the contents are intended as a sort of economists’ joke (which may not be funny to that many, if any, besides me). Also, in order to understand the fun, it will require some knowledge about graduate dynamic macroeconomics, more specifically the continuous-time Ramsey-Kass-Koopmans model. With this warning, I proceed. In recent macroeconomic literature on monetary and fiscal stabilization policies, researchers often characterize the optimal stabilization policy in a conventional public-finance fashion. Then, many argue that such a policy is too complicated to … Continue reading
Posted in Macroeconomics, Monetary policy
Tagged economists' joke, Lars Svensson, policy rules, Ramsey model, Taylor rule
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A Credible Anti-Inflationary Central Bank Ignores Inflation
Today, the European Central Bank decided to keep its policy rate unchanged. I am not particularly surprised. In recent empirical work, Morten Aastrup and I estimate what determines the ECB’s interest-rate changes. It turns out that inflation or expectations thereof play no role. Instead, changes in economic activity as measured by Euro-area unemployment is an important determinant. Americans who cling to the idea that good monetary policymaking is characterized by an adherence to a variant of John B. Taylor’s rule that carries his name, may find this surprising. However, consistent with modern New-Keynesian theory (cf. Michael Woodford’s Interest and Prices, Princeton University Press, 2003), a credible anti-inflationary central bank can … Continue reading
Posted in Macroeconomics, Monetary policy
Tagged Euro, European Central Bank, John B. Taylor, Michael Woodford, Taylor rule
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State-Subsidized Early Retirement? The Big Issue in Denmark
In turbulent times where people fight for democracy in Egypt and elsewhere, I feel privileged to live in a country where the most important issue on the political agenda is whether a state-subsidized early retirement scheme should be gradually removed or should remain. This is indeed THE BIG ISSUE in Denmark today, and one that will be viciously debated until the next general election (the date of that is not yet determined, so this could go on for at least half a year). Yes, I know it is not appropriate to feel good about yourself when others suffer and fight for matters one takes as natural and given. But I … Continue reading
Posted in Macroeconomics
Tagged Denmark, Early retirement, Labor supply, Pension reform
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The Importance of Capital Theory? Supply-side Economics With a Vengeance
From Brad DeLong’s weblog (where it came from Mark Toma), I was directed back to Paul Krugman’s NYT blog, where he comments on a 2008 blog post by Robert P. Murphy on the Austrian capital theory. I am not an expert on Austrian economics, so it is interesting to read a piece by one I guess is a prominent figure within that school. My guess is based on visiting the web-site mises.org, where one sees that Murphy is/or has been teaching at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, and I reckon they wouldn’t let him do that, if he wasn’t somewhat representative of the Austrian school. Also, on his own blog, … Continue reading
