Inquiring into banking

Hard on the heels of the Commerce Commission’s inquiry into some aspects of banking competition, Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee is also holding an inquiry. Submissions weren’t open for very long and have now closed, but the full terms of reference are here. It is a select committee inquiry, so it is hard to be […]

Inquiring into banking

Another zero lower bound prediction bites the dust

Popular New Keynesian macroeconomic models predict that cuts in various types of distortionary taxes are contractionary when monetary policy is constrained at the zero lower bound. We turn to a long span of history in the United Kingdom to test this hypothesis. Using a new long-run dataset of narrative-identified tax changes from 1918to 2020, we […]

Another zero lower bound prediction bites the dust

Proof that NZ’s Reserve Bank has Inflicted Unnecessary Pain up and down the Nation.

In the past few hours, it has been stated that the US economy grew at a solid 3% rate last quarter, as given in the American government’s final estimate. New Zealand’s economy, on the other hand, shrank at a rate of -0.2%. The US Federal Funds rate (the equivalent of NZ’s Official Cash Rate, OCR)…

Proof that NZ’s Reserve Bank has Inflicted Unnecessary Pain up and down the Nation.

Why the Fed Cut Sent Stocks Soaring

When rates go low, future profits go high. Everyone wants a cutBy Richard B. McKenzie. Excerpt:”Profits in the future, dollar for dollar, are worth less than current dollars. This is because current profits can earn interest between now and the future, which means that future profits must be discounted by some percentage to make them…

Why the Fed Cut Sent Stocks Soaring

Failing Banks

From Sergio Correia, Stephan Luck, and Emil Verner: Why do banks fail? We create a panel covering most commercial banks from 1865 through 2023 to study the history of failing banks in the United States. Failing banks are characterized by rising asset losses, deteriorating solvency, and an increasing reliance on expensive non-core funding. Commonalities across…

Failing Banks

Interview with Greg Mankiw: New Keynesian Macro, Growth, and Economic Policy

Jon Hartley interviews Greg Mankiw on topics including New Keynesian macroeconomics, growth, and economic policy more broadly at his Capitalism and Freedom website (August 20, 2024, video and transcript available). Here are a few of the comments that caught my eye. On big models and small models in studying the macroeconomy: [O]n the issue of…

Interview with Greg Mankiw: New Keynesian Macro, Growth, and Economic Policy

Fiscal and monetary policy

Over the last few years, The Treasury seems to have been toying with bidding for a more significant role for fiscal policy as a countercyclical stabilisation tool It seemed to start when Covid hubris still held sway – didn’t we do well? – and the first we saw of it in public was at a […]

Fiscal and monetary policy

Election Rule #1: Don’t Support Your Opponent

Who is advising this woman? In what universe do they think she can say this and at the same time fool enough voters that she hasn’t been part of the Biden Administration that has had these price hikes happen on their watch, on her watch. Did they not think that Trump’s campaign would run with […]

Election Rule #1: Don’t Support Your Opponent

Finally, exchange rate models seem to work pretty well

Exchange-rate models fit very well for the U.S. dollar in the 21st century. A “standard” model that includes real interest rates and a measure of expected inflation for the U.S. and the foreign country, the U.S. comprehensive trade balance, and measures of global risk and liquidity demand is well-supported in the data for the U.S. […]

Finally, exchange rate models seem to work pretty well

Stablecoins – a digital version of Swiss bearer savings books

Before anti-money laundering laws arrived in Switzerland, anyone could walk into a Swiss bank and open an account without showing any ID. The bank would then issue you something called a bearer savings book, otherwise known as inhabersparheften or livrets d’épargne au porteur. Ownership of the savings book was considered by the bank to be…

Stablecoins – a digital version of Swiss bearer savings books

Thought and Details on the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level

The Fiscal Theory of the Price Level has been percolating among monetary theorists for over three decades: Eric Leeper being the first to offer a formalization of the idea, with Chris Sims and Michael Woodford soon contributed to its further development. But the underlying idea that the taxation power of the state is essential for […]

Thought and Details on the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level

Treasury says one thing in a speech but quite another in the BEFU

I picked up The Post this morning to find the lead story headlined “Recession hits homes harder than businesses”, reporting a speech given earlier this week by Treasury’s deputy secretary and chief economic adviser Dominick Stephens. There was an account of the same speech, but with some different material, on BusinessDesk a couple of days […]

Treasury says one thing in a speech but quite another in the BEFU

Not a good case for a CBDC

The Reserve Bank’s latest round of consultation on a possible central bank digital currency (CBDC) closes today. The thick and probably expensive (at least one of the documents was produced jointly with the consultancy firm Accenture) set of consultation documents came up a few months ago. I thought I had run out of time to […]

Not a good case for a CBDC

Treasury wanting to use fiscal policy more

Government departments are now all required by law to write and publish a Long-term Insights Briefing at least every three years. and they have to consult the public on both choice of topic and the draft report The Public Service Commission gives its take on these provisions here Count me more than a little sceptical. […]

Treasury wanting to use fiscal policy more

Flooding Housing Policy

The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment. Brian Easton writes –  Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the […]

Flooding Housing Policy

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