Tag Archives: Economics

Ben Bernanke’s creativity inspired a generation of economists and central bankers. QE, ZIRP and NIRP established a new class of economics that is mathematically sound but practically disastrous. Billions of dollars were transferred from savers to investors to boost the economy, but the wizards of quant forgot that something has to give. In this case, it was the formation of a pension crisis that threatens the golden...

Pound weakness underlines the Conservative Party failing to secure the expected Brexit mandate. Exit polls from the UK general election point to the Conservatives winning just 316 seats, down from their pre-election 330 seats. The Labour Party could win 265 seats, up from 231 before the election....

On his blog, Gilles Saint-Paul comments on the publication process in economics. Of course I was wrong in all accounts. The publication process in economics is not a publication process, it is a validation process by which we acquire a certain rank in a certain pecking order. Submitting a paper to a journal has nothing to do with research dissemination, it is far more similar to taking an exam or participating in a sports competition. The actual dissemination takes place mostly orally, in...

At the 19th Credit Suisse Salon in Dubai on May 09, 2017, former US Secretary John Kerry sat down in conversation with Sir John Major, former UK Prime Minister, on Living in times of uncertainty: the path ahead for the Middle East. They covered a wide range of topics: climate change, the Iran deal, Syria, the root causes for the surge in public...

Helman Sitohang, CEO Asia Pacific, was presented with the Friends of Global Literacy Award by John Wood, founder of the non-profit organization Room to Read at its annual gala event in Singapore.  Room to Read, an NGO focused on children's literacy and girls' education, firmly believes that "world...

 Two weeks ago Bank of America caused a stir when it calculated that central banks (mostly the ECB & BoJ) have bought $1 trillion of financial assets just in the first four months of 2017, which amounts to $3.6 trillion annualized, “the largest CB buying on record.”  Aggregate Balance Sheet Of Large Central Banks, 2000 - 2017 - Click to enlarge BofA’s Michael Hartnett noted that supersized central bank...

France chooses the centrist path forward. With Emmanuel Macron, the French have elected an outspoken defender of European integration. The result is positive for both Europe and markets. French voters have elected Emmanuel Macron as their next president. With more than 65 percent of the vote, Mr....

The pace of technological development in areas like robotics, virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) has been frenetic. The impact is already being felt in new investment opportunities but also in lost jobs. While it may be too early to pinpoint what the ultimate result of all this disruption to existing business models will be, what is...

In a paper, Ricardo Reis defends macroeconomics against various critiques. He concludes: I have argued that while there is much that is wrong with macroeconomics today, most critiques of the state of macroeconomics are off target. Current macroeconomic research is not mindless DSGE modeling filled with ridiculous assumptions and oblivious of data. Rather, young macroeconomists are doing vibrant, varied, and exciting work, getting jobs, and being published. Macroeconomics informs...

In the Journal of Economic Literature, Ariel Rubinstein discusses Dani Rodrik’s “superb” book “Economics Rules.” The article nicely articulates what economics and specifically, economic modeling is about. Some quotes (emphasis my own) … … on the nature of economics: [A] quote … by John Maynard Keynes to Roy Harrod in 1938: “It seems to me that economics is a branch of logic, a way of thinking”; “Economics is a science of thinking in terms of models joined to the art of choosing models...