Category Archives: Federal Reserve

Guest Contribution: “International Macroeconomics in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis”

Today, we are pleased to present a guest contribution written by Laurent Ferrara (Banque de France), Ignacio Hernando (Banco de España) and Daniela Marconi (Banca d’Italia), summarizing the introductory chapter of their book International Macroeconomics in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. The views expressed here are those solely of the author and do not reflect those of their respective institutions.


A decade after the eruption of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), the world economy has finally returned to a more sustained pace of expansion (see Fig. 1).


Figure 1: World GDP annual growth (in %, constant prices). Source: IMF, World Economic Outlook, April 2018 and July 2018 update
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At the Current Pace, the 2-10 Will Invert in December

Holding to the Old Faith


Figure 1: Ten year-3 month Treasury yield spread (bold dark blue), and ten year-two year Treasury yield spread (bold dark red), and projections at current pace using 2017M01-18M08 sample (light blue and pink lines), in percentage points. August 2018 observation through August 27th. NBER defined recession dates shaded gray. Light orange denotes Trump administration. Source: Federal Reserve Board via FRED, Bloomberg, NBER, author’s calculations.
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Guest Contribution: “The European Central Bank’s Lack of Accountability Has Consequences”

Today, we are fortunate to present a guest contribution written by Ashoka Mody, Charles and Marie Visiting Professor in International Economic Policy, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University. Previously, he was Deputy Director in the International Monetary Fund’s Research and European Departments.


The European Central Bank (ECB) was set up as the most independent of all central banks. Its independence also made it unaccountable. Freed from public accountability, the ECB’s decisions have been swayed by its management’s ideological preferences and by national interests. The consequence is that some eurozone countries are now subject to long-term deflation risk and are locked into a currency that is too strong for their economies.

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