Central Banking Journal
Masaaki Shirakawa on his ‘unease’ about 2% inflation targets and lessons from Japan
The former Bank of Japan governor speaks with Christopher Jeffery about the need to properly understand the business of banking, making sound contingency plans and the BoJ’s current policy constraints
Book notes: The wealth of a nation, by Geoffrey Hodgson
This book provides a deep dive into the economic and institutional transformations that supported the rise of English capitalism
BoJ hawkishness due to weak yen belies wage inflation concerns
The contrast in Japan-US economic, price and wage performance and their implications for monetary policies
Lessons from the banking turmoil of 2023
Guardrails on capital, liquidity, deposit insurance, resolution, digitalisation and disintermediation need a rethink
Lkhagvasuren Byadran on geopolitics, gold and 100 years of central banking on the steppe
Bank of Mongolia governor Lkhagvasuren Byadran speaks about monetary and financial reform, embracing AI and fintech, and Mongolia’s new SWF
Banknotes: April to June 2024
A round-up of news and salient issues that have affected central bankers in the past three months
People: April to June 2024
A round-up of central bankers in the news and on the move during the past three months
Are low-level inflation targets still fit for purpose?
Geostrategic shifts make the case for a narrow price target less compelling
Book notes: Balance of power: central banks and the fate of democracies, by Éric Monnet and translated by Steven Rendall
This short book offers partial insights, but ultimately underwhelms
Risks facing central banks: action and inaction
Unlike Fed policy in the 1990s, central bank actions this century do not appear overly accommodative, given poor policy decisions elsewhere, writes Andrew Smithers
Book notes: Fintech: finance, technology and regulation, by Ross Buckley, Douglas Arner and Dirk Zetzsche
An excellent overview of fintech 3.0 and 4.0 that also includes suggestions for smart regulation
What is forecasting for? Bernanke and the future of BoE projections
The Bernanke review pushes central banks to rethink the role of forecasts in policy-making, but it also shies away from solving a key paradox in the process
Profit inflation and monetary policy: weighing the evidence
Biagio Bossone says profit inflation needs monetary ‘fuel’ to rise – but fiscal policy is the best fix, should governments have the ‘guts’
Book notes: Going infinite: the rise and fall of a new tycoon, by Michael Lewis
Nothing in the book left this reader thinking anything positive at all about Bankman-Fried
BIS’s Zhang Tao on why Asian central banks favour a broader policy mix
The BIS’s Asia chief speaks with Christopher Jeffery and Jimmy Choi about supporting liquidity, financial stability and innovation in the Asia-Pacific region
Book notes: Virtuous bankers: a day in the life of the 18th-century Bank of England, by Anne L Murphy
A bottom-up account of how clerks managed operations and enhanced the BoE’s reputation
Supervisors grapple with the smaller bank dilemma
How are the guardians of stability moving to address risks linked to smaller banks in the aftermath of SVB’s collapse?
Banknotes: January to March 2024
A round-up of news and salient issues that have affected central bankers in the past three months
People: January to March 2024
A round-up of central bankers in the news and on the move during the past three months
A new climate of change
Central banks are warming up to address climate risks just as US interest cools
Book notes: Number go up: inside crypto’s wild rise and staggering fall, by Zeke Faux
The book would be a great, comic obituary of crypto, if only crypto were dead
Book notes: The ruble: a political history, by Ekaterina Pravilova
Indispensable reading for anyone interested in Russia and comparative, long-term historical accounts of monetary ideologies and practice
Escaping the structural liquidity trap
Investment needs to be subsidised not taxed if developed countries want to avoid inflation and financial crises, writes Andrew Smithers
The BoJ’s possible path to positive rates
Are market expectations about a spring shift from negative Japanese rates credible, asks Sayuri Shirai