If a central bank is doing something, you can almost be assured that at its theoretical root lies a statement or idea proposed by Milton Friedman in the 1960’s. This is not to say that Friedman would approve of what has been done in his name, even before he died a decade ago he became flustered over what his disciples, [...]
Calculated “inflation” in Europe disappointed again in March, as for the second month in a row the HICP rate was below zero. There had been some hope after the German version turned just slightly positive that it would herald a different sign for the rest of Europe. Instead, inflation rates in other places were mostly the same; Spain stuck at [...]
That there was no change to QE was not really unexpected in October, though consensus about this kind of policymaking theater has become somewhat of a crapshoot. The reason is, contrary to pre-crisis experience, a growing and more obvious schism in the FOMC façade. There have been disagreements in the past, uncovered by the delayed release of full meeting transcripts, [...]
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