Research
HKMA Quarterly Bulletin, March 2005
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has published the March 2005 issue of its Quarterly Bulletin. This issue includes a graphical framework for monitoring the property market in Hong Kong - concluding that the risk of a property bubble developing in Hong…
Additional reference exchange rates for the euro
The European Central Bank said on Tuesday 29 March that it has decided to extend the list of currencies for which daily reference exchange rates are published. As from 1 April it will in addition compute and publish euro reference exchange rates on a…
Sveriges Riksbank Inflation Report, No. 1, 2005
Sweden's central bank, the Sveriges Riksbank, has published its First Inflation Report for 2005. The Riksbank's assessment is that the economic upturn will continue over the coming years and that resource utilisation will increase gradually both in…
Deutsche Bundesbank Monthly Report, February 2005
The Deutsche Bundesbank has published the English version of its February 2005 Monthly Report. The report expressed cautious optimism on the outlook for German growth this year, despite the surprise contraction in gross domestic product in the final…
ECB Working Paper on central bank transparency
The ECB Working Paper "Central bank transparency and private information in a dynamic macroeconomic model" published on 15 March, investigates the role of economic transparency within the framework of one of Townsend's models of 'forecasting the…
The accountability of financial sector supervisors
Policymakers' uneasiness about granting independence to financial sector regulators stems to a large extent from the lack of familiarity with the concept of accountability. This IMF Working Paper gives operational content to accountability and argues…
RBA Financial Stability Review, March 2005
The Reserve Bank of Australia published the March 2005 edition of its Financial Stability Review on 22 March. The RBA's overall assessment is that the Australian financial system is in sound condition.
Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey, Mar 2005
According to the firms surveyed for the Philadelphia Fed's Business Outlook Survey, March 2005, activity in the region's manufacturing sector continues to expand, but at a slower rate than in February.
Bank of Japan Monthly Report, March 2005
The Bank of Japan published the English version of its March 2005 monthly report on 18 March. In the report the BOJ said exports were "starting to pick up", an improvement on its description of "flat" exports in February.
The U.S. current account and the dollar
The dollar has further to fall, according to a recent paper by Professors Blanchard, Giavazzi and Sa of MIT, and an end to the Chinese peg might - contrary to conventional thinking - be bad for Europe, they argue.
BIS Triennial Central Bank Survey - Final Results
The BIS published the final results of its 2004 Triennial Central Bank Survey of Foreign Exchange and Derivatives Market Activity on Thursday 17 March, showing a substantial increase in turnover in the foreign exchange market and in the growth of…
St Louis Fed's Central Banker, Spring 2005
The St. Louis Fed's Central Banker magazine for Spring 2005 has been published. The latest edition contains an article which reports that for the first time in history, Americans are favouring electronic payments in greater dollar amounts than checking…
ECB book on statistics and economic policy-making
The European Central Bank published a book entitled "Statistics and their use for monetary and economic policy-making" on 11 March. The book contains the proceedings of the second ECB conference on statistics held in Frankfurt am Main on 22 and 23 April…
Norges Bank Inflation Report, March 2005
Norway's central bank, Norges Bank, published its latest Inflation Report for March 2005 on Wednesday 16 March. The report said growth in the Norwegian economy has become more self-driven with the main driving forces being private consumption combined…
Richmond Fed's Economic Quarterly, Winter 2005
The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond has published its Economic Quarterly for Winter 2005. The paper "Inflation and changing expenditure shares" measures the contribution of changing expenditure shares to inflation behavior by constructing alternative…
Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Spring 2005
The Bank of England released its Quarterly Bulletin Spring 2005, on 14 March. The Bulletin includes the article "Inside the MPC" in which Richard Lambert explains what life is like as a member of the MPC.
NY Fed's Economic Policy Review prize article
The Editorial Board of the New York Fed's Economic Policy Review has announced the first winner of the Frederic S. Mishkin Prize for Outstanding Paper: "Treasury inflation-indexed debt: A review of the U.S. experience," by Brian Sack and Robert Elsasser.
ECB Monthly Bulletin, March 2005
The European Central Bank published its March 2005 Monthly Bulletin on Thursday 10 March, saying that recent weakness in euro zone economic growth is likely to prove short-lived.
Federal Reserve Board - Beige Book, March 2005
The Federal Reserve published its March 2005 Beige Book survey on Wednesday 9 March. The report said steady consumer spending and continued factory output boosted the US economy in February.
RBNZ Monetary Policy Statement, March 2005
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand increased interest rates by 25 basis points to 6.75 per cent on Thursday 10 March. Speaking at the release of the March 2005 Monetary Policy Statement, RBNZ Governor Alan Bollard said with the economy remaining very strong…
Basel Accord and credit slowdown in Latin America
The IMF Working Paper 'Did the Basel Accord cause a credit slowdown in Latin America?' tests whether the adoption of the Basel Accord by Latin American and Caribbean countries was responsible for the serious slowdowns in credit growth experienced by…
Exits from heavily managed exchange rate regimes
This IMF Working Paper finds that in the past 25 years or so, almost all exits to more flexible exchange rate regimes were followed by a depreciation of the exchange rate, and that exits were about evenly divided between disorderly and orderly cases.
It's open season on the Reserve
This article published on Monday 7 March looks at the Reserve Bank of Australia's decision to raise interest rates last week for the first time since December 2003. It is perhaps the most significant breakdown in trust and harmony between Canberra and…
Federal Reserve Bulletin, Winter 2005
The Federal Reserve's Bulletin for Winter 2005 includes the article 'Indexes of the foreign exchange value of the dollar' which discusses several practical aspects of the design and implementation of the Federal Reserve Board's exchange rate indexes -…