Recall this post from six years ago. Òscar Jordà, Björn Richter, Moritz Schularick, and Alan M. Taylor suggest that higher bank capital ratios help stabilize the financial system ex post but not ex ante, and that illiquidity breeds fragility.
Read More »Socialism and Gold
Most people assume that the central bank prints money when it buys bonds. They further assume that this increase in the quantity of money causes an increase in the general price level. And, this leads them to assume that the value of the money is 1 / P (P is the general price level). Therefore, when the central bank prints money to buy bonds, it is diluting the value of the money held by everyone—in proportion to the amount printed divided by the total amount in...
Read More »Air Berlin’s Insolvency
In the FT, Mark Odell, Nick Megaw, and Stefan Wagstyl report about Air Berlin’s (ABX:GER) insolvency. This outcome will barely surprise Air Berlin passengers.
Read More »