By Alicia García-Herrero and Elina Ribakova, courtesy of the Bruegel Institute COVID-19 is by far the biggest challenge policymakers in emerging economies have had to deal with in recent history. Beyond the potentially large negative impact on these countries’ fiscal accounts, and the related solvency issues, worsening conditions for these countries’ external funding are […]
Tag: interest rates
Eurobonds were a bad idea. “Coronabonds” are too
“Coronabonds: Eurobonds Redux in Times of COVID-19” By Bill Wirtz, courtesy of the Austrian Economics Center As the Coronavirus pandemic continues to affect European countries – and the most affected countries are simultaneously the more indebted Eurozone countries, the issue of mutualized debt has once again been put on the agenda. Spain and Italy […]
Reject a government takeover of consumer lending
By Phil Kerpen, courtesy of American Commitment Price controls don’t work, cause shortages, and have precipitated economic disaster in every sector and jurisdiction that has attempted to impose them on any significant scale. But their braindead simplicity – something is too expensive, so we’ll mandate that it be cheaper – makes them forever […]
Bitte nicht! Germany still opposes banking union
“Germany Remains Firmly Opposed to Banking Union” By Gordon Kerr, Cavin O’Driscoll and Enrico Colombatto, courtesy of IREF In November, Germany’s Finance Minister Olaf Scholz wrote an article in the Financial Times claiming that he had devised a common European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS)[1] that could be acceptable to both sides of the hitherto […]
Will Blockchain Undermine Central Bank Control – Or Amplify It?
By Erik Sass, TES Editor-in-Chief Since the launch of Bitcoin in 2009 cryptocurrencies have proliferated, powered by blockchain technology using distributed computing platforms. Many have grown with the belief that they will remain free from the control of central banks and treasuries, thus providing an alternative to fiat currencies, whose value may change […]
Central banks need to tell everyone to suck it up
While monetary policy has an important role to play in combating economic downturns, central banks have assumed an outsized importance at the expense of other policy options, writes Dr. Michael Ivanovitch in a commentary for CNBC, arguing that central bankers need to […]
UK savers, prepare to be screwed by even lower interest rates
With a fresh wave of economic uncertainty gripping Europe and the rest of the world, central banks are considering lowering interest rates even further, and in the UK that means they may soon be heading towards 0% — raising a big question for British savers, […]
Trump should hit China’s access to cheap dollars
Donald Trump’s escalating trade war with China, characterized by tit-for-tat tariffs which harm American consumers and exporters alike, doesn’t appear to be progressing to a victorious conclusion. However the U.S. has one important weapon left in its trade war arsenal, according to Anne Stevenson-Yang, […]