Challenging times for central banks
Central banks are facing a triple challenge: economic, intellectual and institutional.
Are capital controls making a comeback?
After the financial crisis opposition to capital controls wavered. Two very recent papers examine whether limits on capital mobility achieve their financial and macroeconomic goals.
What happened to India?
Thirty years ago India was considered one of the engines of global growth. Today though, India’s economic engine is sputtering as GDP growth is the lowest it has been in six years.
Rebuking Blanchard
Three recent research papers are refuting the conclusions stated in Olivier Blanchard's 2019 paper “Public Debt and Low Interest Rates.”
Economists and society
During the ASSA 2020 Annual Meeting two papers by Luigi Zingales and George DeMartino emphasize economists' responsibilities towards society.
New and noteworthy books in economics (December)
In this month’s selection there are three books on the social and political problems of our day. The fourth book is on how art and economics grow more entangled.
Low growth and sustainability
Tim Jackson and Peter Victor develop a model of “weightless growth” which leads to improved social and environmental outcomes.
Is the repo market broken?
Since September the Fed has been pumping cash into the system in the form of short term loans out of fear that banks are unable to lend. What are critics saying?
The crisis at the WTO
The U.S. has been chipping away at the WTO for the last two years. How does today’s situation compare to the U.S.-Japan trade war of the 1970s?