Monthly Archives: November 2011

As in “on purpose”: The ECB seems to be in the background during this crisis – almost helpless due to Treaty obligations and dogmatic adherence to old monetary theories. This column argues that quite the opposite is true. The ECB … Continue reading →

Nathan Sheets, head of the Fed´s international division until August is now head of international economics at Citi: In a new note he proposes a fairly dramatic communications option for the Fed – setting a target for the level of … Continue reading →

In a NYT article Robert Shiller laments the fact that fiscal policy will not come to the aid of the unemployed: THE failure of the Congressional supercommittee to come up with any agreement on the budget deficit makes it even less likely … Continue reading →

Versions of this story have been told several times by market monetarists (MM). Given that “the other side” insists in pushing the “conventional wisdom”, I feel free to concoct yet another version of the MM story. The New York Fed … Continue reading →

Yesterday Lars Christensen put up a post in which he linked to a post by Kurt Shuler who writes: During the financial crisis of 2008-09, many central banks expanded the monetary base. In some countries, the base remains high; in … Continue reading →

…a conservative is befuddled. This is from David Frum, ousted from AEI for not “towing the party line”: I can’t shrug off this flight from reality and responsibility as somebody else’s problem. I belonged to this movement; I helped to make … Continue reading →

Paul Solman at The Business Desk contemplates a “scorched earth”: So what’s going on? Well, rather obviously, investors are a lot more worried about the credit of Greece – or Spain or Italy – than ours. Investors are also more worried about stock investments. Investors … Continue reading →

There´s much I feel is quite wrong in this Kocherlakota speech (although I´m sure Steve Williamson would vehemently “applaud”). But I´ll concentrate on the last part – “Going forward”. After mentioning the Fed´s success in “meeting its price stability mandate … Continue reading →

Courtesy of David Levey, this is Diane Swonk on the FOMC minutes: The group fell short, however, of endorsing a full-scale shift in its targets for both inflation and unemployment, as Chicago Fed President Charlie Evans (who dissented in favor … Continue reading →

This is from the FOMC minutes of their last meeting (my bolds): More broadly, a number of participants expressed concern that switching to a new policy framework could heighten uncertainty about future monetary policy, risk unmooring longer-term inflation expectations, or … Continue reading →