central banks
In today's bull market, the bezzle, or "inventory of undiscovered embezzlements," isn't stocked with Ponzi schemes and the like. Rather it is built on the notion that risky assets have become practically risk-free.
“You don’t have a lot to work with when the next discussion around the table is negative interest rates,” says Danielle DiMartino Booth.
In this important contribution to the literature, noted monetary macroeconomists argue that the global financial crisis of 2007–2008 was caused by a crash in money growth.
"I don't see GDP growth running away from us," Robert S. Kaplan said. "In fact, if we don't take wise actions from a policy point of view, I actually think potential GDP is likely to trend lower over the next number of years from where it is now."
Jason Voss, CFA, shares his picks for Weekend Reads for Investors. This edition features stories about the dangers of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), a better way to think about and model the human brain, and how the notion of superhuman artificial intelligence (AI) is farfetched.
Back in the 1980s, “monetary policy was a great way to stimulate the economy,” Jack Ablin, CFA, said. Not anymore.
In a sweeping survey of the financial crises that shook East Asia and other developing countries, the author explores the compatibility of emerging market economies with inherently volatile global financial markets.
It was just shy of two weeks since President Donald Trump’s inauguration when former US Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke took to the podium at the CFA Society Boston’s 31st Annual Market Dinner. His presentation covered a broad range of topics, from the current state of macroeconomics, regulation, and policy, to financial stability and the geopolitical climate at large. John Bowman, CFA, shares a few key takeaways from his speech and the subsequent question-and-answer session.
In this fascinating study of the Federal Reserve System, Peter Conti-Brown shows that much of what investors know about the formulation and implementation of US monetary policy is wrong. He also demonstrates that much of the expert commentary in the media (e.g., regarding future interest rate actions) proceeds from false premises about the central bank’s internal dynamics. Although practitioners should not accept all of Conti-Brown’s conclusions uncritically, they can assuredly profit from his debunking of conventional wisdom about a key driver of the financial markets.
The central bankers' ongoing romance with negative interest rates is perhaps the most important story of 2016. Ron Rimkus, CFA, provides his year-end roundup and looks ahead to 2017.