The SNB has published its annual report. Some highlights from the summary: Climate risks and adjustments to climate policy can trigger or amplify market fluctuations and influence the attractiveness of investments. From an investment perspective, such risks are essentially no different from other financial risks. The SNB manages the risks to its investments by means of its diversification strategy. … A prerequisite for illiquid assets to be used as collateral in obtaining liquidity...
Read More »Banks and Privacy, U.S. vs Canada
JP Koning writes: An interesting side point here is that Canadians don’t forfeit their privacy rights by giving up their personal information to third-parties, like banks. We have a reasonable expectation of privacy with respect to the information we give to our bank, and thus our bank account information is afforded a degree of protection under Section 8 of the Charter. My American readers may find this latter feature odd, given that U.S. law stipulates the opposite, that Americans...
Read More »“Topics in Macroeconomics,” Bern, Spring 2024
BA course at the University of Bern. Time: Monday, 10:15–12:00. Location: H4, 115. Uni Bern’s official course page. The course targets students who have completed their mandatory training in microeconomics, macroeconomics and mathematics and who want to make use of macroeconomic theory in order to analyze questions related to asset prices, bubbles, government debt, or the link between fiscal and monetary policy. The grade may depend on participation in class; small group projects; and/or...
Read More »“Fiscal and Monetary Policies,” Bern, Spring 2024
MA course at the University of Bern. Lecture: Monday, 12.15 – 14.00, UniS A027.Session: Tuesday, 12.15 – 14.00, UniS A017, on 5 Mar, 19 Mar, 26 Mar, 16 Apr, 30 Apr, 14 May. Some lecture and session dates may be swapped. Uni Bern’s official course page. Problem sets and solutions can be found here. The course covers macroeconomic theories of fiscal policy (including tax and debt policy) and the interaction between fiscal and monetary policy. Participants should be familiar with the...
Read More »“Augenwischerei um SNB-Ausschüttungen (Misconceptions about SNB Distributions),” NZZ, 2024
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, January 25, 2024. PDF. HTML. Kritik an der Höhe der SNB-Ausschüttungen ist somit nur gerechtfertigt, wenn die Finanzverantwortlichen von Bund und Kantonen die genannten Hebel nicht in Bewegung setzen können. Einer solchen Kritik muss sich die SNB stellen. Sie hat die Kompetenz, ihre Bilanz nach geldpolitischen Erfordernissen zu gestalten, aber eine mechanische Rückstellungspolitik entspricht diesem Erfordernis kaum. Die SNB sollte daher begründen, warum eine...
Read More »Bank of England CBDC Academic Advisory Group
The Bank of England and HM Treasury have formed a CBDC Academic Advisory Group (AAG). The AAG will bring together a diverse, multi-disciplinary group of experts to encourage academic research, debate and promote discussion on a range of topics, to support the Bank and HM Treasury’s work during the design phase of a digital pound. Members: Alexander Edmund Voorhoeve Professor of Philosophy London School of Economics Alistair Milne Professor of Financial Economics Loughborough University...
Read More »Panel on “Will the digital euro take off?,” CEPR, 2023
Katrin Assenmacher (ECB), Peter Bofinger (U of Wurzburg), Rod Garratt (UCSB, BIS), Alexandre Stervinou (Banque de France). Chair: Dirk Niepelt. One of the opening events at CEPR’s Paris Symposium 2023. Organizer: Tessa Ogden, Dirk Niepelt.
Read More »Conference on “The Macroeconomic Implications of Central Bank Digital Currencies,” CEPR/ECB, 2023
Conference jointly organized by CEPR’s RPN FinTech & Digital Currencies and the European Central Bank. Welcome speech by Piero Cippolone, keynote by Fabio Panetta. Organizers: Toni Ahnert, Katrin Assenmacher, Massimo Ferrari Minesso, Peter Hoffmann, Arnaud Mehl, Dirk Niepelt. CEPR’s conference website. ECB’s website with videos. Website with pictures.
Read More »Panel on the Economics of CBDC, Riksbank, 2023
Panel at the Bank of Canada/Riksbank Conference on the Economics of CBDC, November 16, 2023. Video. Fed Governor Christopher Waller, UCSB professor Rod Garratt and myself assess the case for central bank digital currency and stable coins and respond to excellent questions from the audience.
Read More »“Das Große Gehege”
Caspar David Friedrich: Das große Gehege, 1832.Wikipedia.
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