Central Banks Archives - Lion and Palm Tree

Can’t we just print more money?

Book Review: Rupal Patel and Jack Meaning, ‘Can’t we just print more money – Economics in ten simple questions’, Cornerstone Press, London, May 2022.

The facade of the Bank of England. Edited from a photo by Samuel Regan-Asante on Unsplash

Introduction

The Bank of England is the first central bank to carry out the set of functions which are today associated with a central bank. It is not the oldest, an honour which goes to the Riksbank established in 1668. After its establishment in 1694 as an issuer of currency and as a government bank, the Bank of England started adding functions over the years. It was only in the second half of the 19^th century, when it became a lender of last resort, that the Bank of England came to be acknowledged and regarded as a central bank. Continue reading “Can’t we just print more money?”

Bank of Russia in War and Peace

How Bank of Russia and Russian Central Banking is coping with war and other political expediencies

Central Bank of Russian Federation Head Office building — Bank of Russia

War and Peace

War and Peace, Tolstoy’s enduring masterpiece, starts with a party scene. Set in the St Petersburg of 1805, the main characters are introduced here. Most of us would have read the ‘novel’ (Tolstoy did not call it one) in English. Lost in translation is the fact that almost the entire conversation, page after page, is in French. It was the preferred language of the Russian aristocracy. For Tolstoy, it was a literary device. He was making fun of the nobles of the day who spoke French to flaunt their exclusivity. He wanted to show how disconnected they were from core Russian values and the world around. Continue reading “Bank of Russia in War and Peace”

Jackson Hole Symposium 2021

If the US pullout from Afghanistan signalled its disinclination to be the policeman of the world at the cost of its men and money, this year’s Jackson Hole Symposium and Chairman Powell’s address mark a no less strong aversion to being the central banker of the world. That it came in the 50th anniversary month of President Nixon snapping dollar convertibility into gold is particularly apt. This post is an overview of some of the presentations held at Jackson Hole Symposium 2021. Continue reading “Jackson Hole Symposium 2021”

Alan Turing – The Madras Connection

What do the Bank of England, Benedict Cumberbatch, Nandan Nilekani, the Second World War, mathematical biology, Mettur Dam, the humble punkah, and Chatrapur have in common? For added measure, one might add the Madras Railway, Tungabhadra Bridge, Coonoor, the German U-Boats, cryptography, and Bletchley Park, once the top-secret home of British code breakers. The answer is Alan Turing, mathematician and philosopher. He contributed to cryptography and mathematical biology, among other subjects, and is the father of modern computer science. Continue reading “Alan Turing – The Madras Connection”

Andrew Bailey at Jackson Hole

Central bank balance sheet as a policy tool: past, present and future

Mr. Andrew Bailey, Governor, Bank of England, delivered the opening remarks on the second day of the Kansas City Fed’s annual Jackson Hole Symposium, on 28 August 2020. He spoke on “Central bank balance sheet as a policy tool: past, present and future”, based on a paper (see here) with the same title, prepared jointly with Jonathan Bridges, Richard Harrison, Josh Jones and Aakash Mankodi. Continue reading “Andrew Bailey at Jackson Hole”

Jerome Powell at Jackson Hole

Delivering the opening remarks at the Kansas City Fed’s annual Jackson Hole Symposium on 27 August 2020, Jerome Powell, Chair, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System, discussed the first ever review of the FED’s monetary policy framework. Earlier in the day, the FED had released a revised Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy, which laid down its goals, framework for monetary policy, and would serve as the foundation for policy actions. Continue reading “Jerome Powell at Jackson Hole”

The Jackson Hole Symposium 2020

The annual Jackson Hole Symposium, organised by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, kicked off today, 27 August 2020, in what is perhaps the first instance that the Symposium is being held completely online, since its beginning in 1978. The event otherwise is held every year at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It brings together economists, financial market participants, academics, U.S. government representatives and news media to discuss long-term policy issues of mutual concern. Continue reading “The Jackson Hole Symposium 2020”

IMF’s Central Bank Transparency Code

When increased independence was being given to central banks across the world, especially in their conduct of monetary policy, and in countries implementing an inflation targeting framework, a key element was greater accountability of central banks, in which transparency and appropriate disclosures had a very important role. Transparency refers to the flow and accessibility of information from the central bank to its stakeholders and the public. They rely on that information to inform their judgment of the performance of the central bank and compliance with the central bank’s mandate. Transparency is also a key plank in the central bank’s broader governance and accountability framework. Continue reading “IMF’s Central Bank Transparency Code”

“Pandemic depression”: The way ahead

In the October/November 2020 issue of Foreign Affairs, Carmen Reinhart of the World Bank and Vincent Reinhart, Chief Economist for BNY Mellon Asset Management, have this article on “The Pandemic Depression: The Global Economy Will Never Be the Same.” They cite various data to justify the expression. Bank of England had predicted the steepest decline for UK since 1706. The unemployment figures in the US are the worst since the Bureau of Labor Statistics has had data on it. The World Trade Organization estimated that global trade is poised to fall by between 13 and 32 percent in 2020. And the World Bank had predicted that the global economy would shrink by 5.2 per cent in 2020, and that 60 million people will be pushed into extreme poverty as a result of the pandemic. Continue reading ““Pandemic depression”: The way ahead”

Governor Brainard on Digital Currencies

Governor Lael Brainard of the US Federal Reserve, speaking at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s Innovation Office Hours, on 13 August 2020, gave an update on the work on Central Bank Digital Currencies in the US. She is a former Assistant and Associate Professor at MIT, and an Under Secretary in the Department of Treasury under the Obama administration. Continue reading “Governor Brainard on Digital Currencies”