The 85th Annual Report of the BIS is not perhaps the obvious first choice for beach-reading on a holiday weekend, but having read through its 119 pages, the core message reminds me of nothing so much as the most memorable line of the 40-year-old summer blockbuster “Jaws”: “You’re going to need a bigger boat.” Notwithstanding everything that has been done since
Read moreGary Cohn, president and COO of Goldman Sachs, weighs in with his doubts about the wisdom of the current regulatory push to move as much as possible of security trading onto clearinghouse platforms. (See article in FT here, and podcast here.) Now Moody’s asks for industry feedback on clearinghouse risk, and CFTC Commissioner Bowen reiterates call for “public directors and
Read moreNow comes a symposium of five articles, published in the AEA outreach Journal of Economics Perspectives, several of which read clearly as a kind of apologia pro vita sua for the actions of the authors themselves. The idea seems to be that, if only readers could be made to understand the conditions under which the authors were operating, they would
Read moreAs regular readers know, I emphasize two central functions of monetary systems: payments and market-making. These are the foundation pillars of what I call the “money view”. In my teaching, I have come to appreciate a variety of barriers that people bring with them to the study of money, and to appreciate the necessity of bringing these barriers up to
Read moreA month ago, the Volcker Alliance issued a report intended to address a central issue that had been purposely left to one side in the Dodd-Frank reform legislation, namely the inadequacy of the regulatory system that will be tasked with implementing any future financial reform. Titled “Reshaping the Financial Regulatory System: Long Delayed, Now Crucial”, the report got respectful notice
Read moreThe word has come down, “Never again!” On October 14, 2008, the US Treasury announced a plan to recapitalize the US banking system, to the tune of $250 billion, starting with the nine biggest banks who were forced to take the money, whether they wanted to or not. The government got its (our) money back, but that’s not what matters.
Read moreThe Fed has announced plans to raise rates in the imminent future, but the market does not believe it. Why not? Conventional wisdom appears to be that the Fed will chicken out, just as it did during the so-called Taper Tantrum. The Fed has signaled its appreciation that “liftoff” will involve increased volatility, and has stated its resolve this time
Read moreAt the INET conference in DC yesterday, Janet Yellen and Christine Lagarde both gave brief statements, and then they asked each other questions, back and forth, until the moderator called time. No surprises in any of it, perhaps, but still a useful check on the current thinking of the leaders of the Fed and the IMF respectively, and as such
Read moreHey everyone our Coursera course Economics of Money and Banking will Launch on Sunday at midnight EST
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