Lies and Democracy
Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously quipped “you are entitled to your opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts”. Unfortunately,... Read More
The End of the Myth of Economists as Technocratic Experts
It has taken 40 years, but we have finally arrived at the end of the myth of Economists as technocratic experts. What... Read More
Central Bankers Shouldn’t Choose Winners or Losers From a Financial Crisis
The fundamental problem with the policy response to the 2007 Financial Crisis and the 2008 Banking Crash was is was lead by... Read More
Damn the Toxic Side Effects, …
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Anna Schwartz was right*. No matter how toxic the side effects or how ineffective the policies chosen by PhD Economists, they will... Read More
Economists Know Nothing When It Comes to Financial Crises
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While still the Fed chair, Janet Yellen gave an interesting speech on October 14, 2016 in which she pointed out when it... Read More
Bank Stress Tests Shouldn’t be Relied On
Periodically central bankers cannot help themselves and they actually tell the truth. The latest example is New Zealand’s Reserve Bank Governor Adrian... Read More
The Illusion of Technocratic Competence
The Economic profession’s and the financial regulatory community’s illusion of technocratic competence is like Dracula. It refuses to die. Wouldn’t you have... Read More
Unelected Power and the Great Financial Crisis
Paul Tucker, a former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, raised an interesting point about central bank independence. Their... Read More
Central Banks Shape the Financial Markets
While plenty is written about the central banks as bank supervisors or macro-prudential regulators, virtually nothing is written about central banks as... Read More
The Con-Artist Wing of Economics: Central Bankers
The Federal Reserve lead response to the acute phase of the Great Financial Crisis was based on deceit. The entire narrative used... Read More
Professors Find Transparency Works
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Stumbled across an article by two professors from HEC Lausanne who found the discipline on banks that resulted from greater disclosure resulted... Read More
Limits to What Lender of Last Resort Can Do
The acute phase of the financial crisis in 2008 showed central banks in their role of lender of last resort are unable... Read More
How Much Influence Should Central Banks Have in a Democracy?
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Paul Tucker asks the question “how much influence should central banks have in a democracy”. My answer is central banks should have... Read More
The Confident Idiots at the Fed and Bank Stress Tests
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Perhaps the single worst idea to emerge from the acute phase of the Great Financial Crisis was the public announcement of the... Read More
The Sorry State of Central Bankers’ Understanding of Transparency
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Geoff Bascand, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, provided an excellent snapshot of the current state of central bankers’ understanding... Read More