Dirk Niepelt

CEPR Discussion Paper 12755, February 2018. PDF. (Personal copy.) This paper reviews theoretical results on financial policy. We use basic accounting identities to illustrate relations between gross assets and liabilities, net debt positions and the appropriation of (primary) budget surplus funds. We then discuss Ramsey policies, answering the question how a committed government may use financial instruments to pursue its objectives. Finally, we discuss additional roles for financial...

MA course at the University of Bern. The classes follow chapters 11–13 in this text and build on the material covered in chapters 1–5. Uni Bern’s official course page. The course TA is Christian Myohl. Main contents: Concepts. RA model with government spending and taxes. Government debt in RA model. Government debt and social security in OLG model. Neutrality results. Consolidated government budget constraint. Fiscal effects on inflation. Game of chicken. FTPL. Active and passive...

In an NBER working paper, Arvind Krishnamurthy, Stefan Nagel, and Annette Vissing-Jorgensen analyze which components of bond yields were affected by the European Central Bank’s government bond purchasing programs. Given the institutional restrictions on monetary policy in the Euro area, the ECB had to carefully argue why it intervened in the first place. (To many, the case was obvious; the ECB intervention amounted to quasi-fiscal policy. But an intervention with this objective would not...

The new edition features an interview with Roger Farmer. PDF.

In the NZZ, Daniel Imwinkelried reports about the effect of cost pressure on the organizational structure of banks: fewer layers of control. So bestand das Schweizer Privatkundengeschäft der Credit Suisse (CS) bis vor kurzem aus drei Ebenen, nämlich zehn Regionen, den Marktgebieten und den Teams. Die mittlere Stufe wurde abgeschafft, die ehemaligen Chefs mussten die Bank verlassen oder erhielten eine neue Aufgabe. Im Schweizer Privatkundengeschäft der CS kamen einst im Durchschnitt auf...

At an MIT book launch in Zurich, David Shrier and Alex Pentland advertized a new book co-edited by them, “New Solutions for Cybersecurity.” Some takeaways from the event: The really dangerous cyber attacks are yet to come. All major governments are directly or indirectly involved. A promising strategy of minimizing risks relies on (i) continuous encryption; (ii) no central storage of data but case by case requests for data; and (iii) log queries to manage/monitor access. The European...

In a CEPR discussion paper, Christoph Trebesch and Jeromin Zettelmeyer argue that ECB bond buying had a large impact on the price of short and medium maturity bonds … However, the effects were limited to those sovereign bonds actually bought. We find little evidence for positive effects on market quality, or spillovers to close substitute bonds, CDS markets, or corporate bonds. A multiple equilibria view of the crisis would probably suggest otherwise.

A concise overview with timeline.

A new book by Bryan Caplan. It’s the signalling case.

In the NZZ, Monica Rüthers writes about the history of the border between Konstanz (in Germany) and Kreuzlingen (in Switzerland). Shoppers have been crossing the border for ages although governments have tried to prevent this with varying fervor. Exchange rate regimes have affected which goods are bought, where.