Group items tagged

This article, from news agency Reuters, outlines Mario Draghi's, head of the European Central Bank (ECB), statement in Italy this week, regarding the Eurozone, a form of monetary integration. Draghi outlined the need for European countries to complete the monetary union and integrate policy to avert another crash. 

The monetary union of the Euro zone has been heavily criticized as only a place that shares one thing: its currency. It has been judged however they have incorrect, due to the integration of the countries' economies.

This article really looks into how a monetary union can work when it is so divided, and it goes on to say that the political ties are what enables it to thrive without major disturbances. It also mentions how important these ties are for the central bank and monetary policy of the bloc to work

Agustin Carstens, governor of the Central Bank of Mexico warns about the spillover affects into the developing world from advanced economies' banks' monetary policies. Money has found its way into emerging markets leading to higher exchange rates and weakening exports according to Carstens. This is a dangerous bubble that could be liable to burst should growth pick up soon. Overall this article provides an interesting insight into how one countries policy choices can have global consequences and how international economics really is.

As a number of officials wanted to give more information about how long the US Federal Reserve will wait before it starts to reduce the size of its balance sheet, the central bank starts to plan an exit from easy monetary policy. 

This article illustrates the opinion of the European Central Bank's President - Mario Draghi. He talks about euro's fluctuation these days and how it is connected with monetary union.

This article from Belarusian news agency BeITA explains the exchange rate policy of the Belarusian National Bank, as described by Deputy Chairman Sergei Kalechits. It explains policy regarding the managed float status of the Belarusian Ruble and how the government pursues a balanced policy surrounding the currency, aiming to reduce the interest rate whilst maintaining competitive advantage with domestic exports.

This article relates to subsidies since the government of Morocco has raised energy prices to save subsidy money that is needed for the International Monetary Fund requirements. Protests have been made from the government's junior partner party over the raise in price of energy. Higher taxes for energy will cause higher price for transportation for tourists and higher costs of production for agriculture. The government though, said they will return parts of the increase of energy prices for professional drivers to avoid a "snowball" effect on prices. But is the raise in price of energy due to the save of subsidy money rational for the country, looking upon the people's use of energy and the agriculture?

This article talks about the inflation and unemployment rates in the United States. According to the Federal Reserve Chair, the economy is still unstable as unemployment rates exceed the Fed's goals, while inflation rates need a boost to achieve the target of 2%. The article suggests that monetary policies are going to be used in order to achieve the macroeconomics target of the USA. 

This article discusses the possibility of a further step in the trade liberalisation of East Africa. The EAC (already a common market) now wants to go further and create an economic and monetary union within 10 years. This would greatly help the trading in that region.

This article from Forbes is primarily titled to be a forecast about inflation in the coming fiscal year but it also interestingly (and relevant to our studies) discusses the different arguments and criticism surrounding the modelled Phillips Curve. The article also contains an interesting graph that is based on recorded statistics about inflation and unemployment which helps to demonstrate the problems with the Phillips Curve model. 

this is relevent to this weeks reading because it amother way of the government making changes, however here its not the government its the central bank. and acts of the central baks are more monetary poilicy as they predominantly affect AD

This is an article on how Russia's central bank will address the sharp oil price drop. This article relates to what we are doing because it talks about the strategy of the Russian central bank. the central bank is a key tool for the monetary policy, which we are covering right now. Also this article briefly mentioned balance of payments, and the negative consequences of the bank failing to address this issue. It was a very interesting read.

This article details France's success in it's road to recovery following the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis. This week the IMF has hailed president François Hollande's cutback path to repair the countries economy but commented that his targets may be 'very challenging.' This comes after the French government has delivered vast savings through austerity measures whilst retaining general stability despite the rise of far-right groups like The Front National. In my opinion for a country in the eurozone Hollande's France seems to be doing well for itself on the road to recovery and could set an example for other Eurozone countries, like Greece and Portugal.

This article refers to the current price feud between two of America's largest mobile phone providers, T-Mobile and AT&T. Having earlier employed aggressive tactics to try to gain consumers from AT&T, T-Mobile recently suffered a set back as a result of a counter-move by AT&T, who offered monetary compensation for those consumers switching from T-Mobile. As a result of the apparent price war, Wall Street has become increasingly concerned by the prospect of a dramatic loss of profits in the industry, as both firms may eventually settle at the so called Nash Equilibrium point.

The "Help to Buy" was a political masterstroke since, among other things, the government got help with the claim for a credit for an upswing in the property market, helping to spark a building boom. I think, the offering taxpayer subsidies, will help allocate resources in the free market since more will get willingly to pay for houses. But this is risky for the British housing market, since the levels that would be required to keep prices stable will remain below what is needed.

As early as next month, the European Central Bank is expected to act to counter persistently low inflation and to try to invigorate the eurozone's lethargic economy. Among the evidence the ECB will weigh: Thursday's report that the 18 countries that use the euro collectively grew just 0.2...

This article presents how a report done by the Monetary Policy Committee of the UK has lead to the value of the pound falling slightly against the dollar. This shows how the direct action of a central bank (here refusing to increase the interest rate) can impact the exchange rate.

This article details the so called resurgence of the US dollar, in terms of currency value. The currency itself has risen by around 7% against other currencies but Guardian economist Mohamed El-Erian warns that without the appropriate accompanying central bank policies, the rise of the dollar could cause further market volatility and at worst a new crash. El-Erian calls for governments to enact policy to support balance the current currency realignment. 

This article from the London Evening Standard details how the IMF have warned the UK government over remaining household debt and the dangers it poses to the economy. The IMF have also called for 'supply side measures... to safeguard housing affordability' - a growing problem in both London and the UK as a whole.

This article evaluate fiscal and monetary policy in reference to a real world example, and go over the benefits of supply-side policy. It suggests another course of action for the US government, one where supply-side policy would be emphasised rather than any demand-side policy, because the author states that the economic stagnation is not a demand-side problem. Easy article that evaluates policies in a clear way.