...Monetary Policy in the United States: A Brave New World? Stephen D. Williamson This article is a reflection on monetary policy in the United States during Ben Bernanke’s two terms as Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee, from 2006 to 2014. Inflation targeting, policy during the financial crisis, and post-crisis monetary policy (forward guidance and quantitative easing) are discussed and evaluated. (JEL E52, N12) Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, Second Quarter 2014, 96(2), pp. 111-21. en Bernanke chaired his last Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in January 2014 and departed from the Board of Governors on February 3 after eight years as the head of the Federal Reserve System. So, the time is right to look back on the Bernanke era and ask how central banking has and has not changed since 2006. There is plenty in the macroeconomic record from 2006 to 2014 to keep economists and policy analysts busy for many years, so in this short piece we can only scratch the surface of what is interesting about the Bernanke era. I will focus on three issues: (i) inflation targeting, (ii) Fed lending and other interventions during the financial crisis, and (iii) post-crisis Fed policy, in particular experiments with forward guidance and quantitative easing (QE). B INFLATION TARGETING When Bernanke began his first term in 2006, I think the big change people expected was an inflation-targeting regime for U.S. monetary policy, similar to what exists in New...
Words: 6247 - Pages: 25
...The Role of Corporate Law in Preventing a Financial Crisis: Reflections on In re Citigroup Inc. Shareholder Derivative Litigation Franklin A. Gevurtz* TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. II. CITIGROUP AS A CASE STUDY IN EXCESSIVE RISK-TAKING .............................. III. TOOLS FOR CURBING EXCESSIVE RISK-TAKING AND THE ROLE OF CORPORATE LAW ............................................................................................... A. The Tools for Curbing Excessive Risk-taking ............................................. 1. Regulation of Business Activities .......................................................... 2. Capital Requirements ........................................................................... 3. Compensation Rules ............................................................................. 4. Liability for Unreasonable Risks .......................................................... 5. Selection of Management (Rules of Corporate Governance) ............... B. Dividing the Tools Between Banking and Corporate Law .......................... IV. WHY IT MATTERS: CITIGROUP AS AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE LIMITATIONS OF STATE CORPORATE LAW ........................................................ A. Citigroup As a Case Study In Weak Corporate Law................................... 1. Overview ..................................................
Words: 22913 - Pages: 92
...characterized the western world’s banking system as suffering “the equivalent of a cardiac arrest.” The collapse of confidence in the system means that “it is now virtually impossible for any institution to finance itself in the markets longer than overnight.” This occurred less than a month after Lehman Brothers (LB) collapsed, without bailout. Six months earlier Bear Stearns (BS) had been bailed out after JP Morgan Chase (JPM Chase) had bought it for $10 a share, at the regulator’s urging. After LB fell, who would be next? And if LB, who was not at risk? Despite the earlier U.S. government bailouts of the erstwhile government mortgage originators (and still seen as government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs), the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), and the later bailout of the world’s largest insurer, American International Group (AIG), everything changed with the demise of LB. The FT was describing the freezing of the interbank credit market. After LB’s fall, so-called counterparty risk was seen as prohibitive to prospective lenders, at any price. This was revealed in the TED spread, the difference between the cost of interbank lending, the London Inter Bank Offered...
Words: 14558 - Pages: 59
...CRISIS I n the summer of 2007 many leading banks in the us and Europe were hit by a collapse in the value of mortgage-backed securities which they had themselves been responsible for packaging.* To the surprise of many, the poisonous securities turned out to constitute a major portion of their ultimate asset base. The defaults fostered a credit crunch as all financial institutions hoarded cash and required ever widening premiums before lending to one another. The Wall Street investment banks and brokerages haemorrhaged $175 billion of capital in the period July 2007 to March 2008, and Bear Stearns, the fifth largest, was ‘rescued’ in March, at a fire-sale price, by JP Morgan Chase with the help of $29 billion of guarantees from the Federal Reserve. Many of the rest only survived by selling huge chunks of preferred stock, with guaranteed premium rates of return, to a string of ‘sovereign funds’, owned by the governments of Abu Dhabi, Singapore, South Korea and China, among others. By the end of January 2008, $75 billion of new capital had been injected into the banks, but it was not enough. In the uk the sharply rising cost of liquidity destroyed the business model of a large mortgage house, leading to the first bank run in the uk for 150 years and obliging the British Chancellor first to extend nearly £60 billion in loans and guarantees to its depositors and then to take the concern, Northern Rock, into public ownership. In late January Société Générale, famous for its skill at...
Words: 18150 - Pages: 73
...Pamphlet Series No. 53 Governance of the IMF Decision Making, Institutional Oversight, Transparency, and Accountability Leo Van Houtven INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 2002 Pamphlet Series No. 53 Governance of the IMF Decision Making, Institutional Oversight, Transparency, and Accountability Leo Van Houtven INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND Washington, D.C. 2002 ISBN 1-58906-130-6 ISSN 0538-8759 August 2002 The views expressed in this pamphlet, including any legal aspects, are those of the author and should not be attributed to Executive Directors of the IMF or their national authorities. Cover design and typesetting: IMF Graphics Section Please send orders to: International Monetary Fund, Publication Services 700 19th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20431, USA Tel.: (202) 623-7430 Telefax: (202) 623-7201 E-mail: publications@imf.org Internet: http://www.imf.org Contents Preface ............................................................................................... List of Abbreviations ........................................................................ I. II. Introduction ........................................................................... Quotas and Voting Power in the IMF: A System That Calls for Greater Equity ................................................... Role of Quotas and the Debate on the Quota Formula............ Further Work Toward Correcting Distortions and Enhancing Equity in Voting Power .....................
Words: 31743 - Pages: 127
...upcoming Exams!!! Contact us at arunsathyan.day2daygk@gmail.com & prerikagupta.day2daygk@gmail.com (Feedbacks are Greatly Appreciated) Do It Now. Sometimes Later Becomes Never. Current Affairs Jan to June AWARDS AND HONOURS Name of the Award Business Person of the Year State Pre-Eminent Science and Technology Award 2015 Space Pioneer Award Award Winner Larry Page Yu Min – Nuclear Scientist ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) Team Asian Tour’s Players Player of Anirban Lahiri the Year Ballon d’Or 2014 Award Cristiano Ronaldo Governor of the Year Raghuram Rajan National e-Governance Award Vyas Samman Award 2014 Jammu and Kashmir National Tiger Conservation Authority Award Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Award Sahitya Akademi Award Periyar Tiger Reserve NSC Award for Best Electoral Practices Social Media Person of the year 2015 Giraffe Hero Award Best Indian Language Website in India Hindu Literary Prize 2014 CV Anand Martin Luther King Award Frank Islam DSC Prize for South Asian Fiction Kushwant Singh Memorial Prize Sanjay Chopra Award Bapu Gaidani Award Jhumpa Lahiri Geeta Chopra Award Bharat Award (These 4 are National Bravery Awards) Kamal Kishore Goyanka MYS Prasad Prabhu Nath Dwivedi Amitabh Bachchan Subash Chandra Agarwal Navbharattimes.com Ashok Srinivasan Arundhathi Subramaniyam Devesh Kumar Monika,...
Words: 30993 - Pages: 124
...Capital account convertibility of the rupee is a distant dream because macro economic parameters have to be stable before it is implemented. The low current account deficit should be sustained and the fiscal deficit needs to be contained. * Leads to free exchange of currency at lower rates and an unrestricted mobility of capital * Beneficial for a country because inflow of foreign investment increases * The flip side, though, is that it could destabilise an economy due to massive capital flows in and out of the country “We are surely on that path but it will take a few more years. The rupee as a currency should be more frequently traded internationally,” said Dwijendra Srivastava, chief investment officer (debt) at Sundaram Mutual Fund. India’s external sector was vulnerable till recently, with the current account deficit above the comfort level of 2.5 per cent of the gross domestic product. It was 4.2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011-12 and rose to 4.7 per cent in 2012-13. After severe curbs, including restrictions on import of precious metals, the deficit fell to 1.7 per cent in 2013-14. In 2014-15, it continued to stay low, with the third quarter showing a deficit of 1.6 per cent. The fiscal situation remains fragile. The turning point was in 2007, the year of the global financial crisis. The fiscal deficit of the central government has been 4.6-6.5 per cent in the past six years, before falling to 4.1 per cent in 2013-14. The government is...
Words: 7455 - Pages: 30
...Land Records Paper.. 1. What is the date of death of Nusrat Bhuto-------- October 23, 2011 2. What is the date of death of Arfa Karim-----------14 January 2012 3. Which Pakistani woman won Oscar Award----------Sharmin Obaid Chenuy 4. On which date Abbotabad operation was carried out--------2may2011 5. How many number of balls in snooker game----------------22 6. Which is the world expensive city--------------Zurich 7. Where is the dum dum airport------------------calcuta 8. World Econimic forum kahan hua-----------Davos 9. Women protection bill of acid thrown on face passed on-----13.12.11 10. which country is largest producer of coffee ----------Brazil 11. G4 countries konsi hn-----------india, brazil, germany, japan 12. Pakistan cabinet recognize India as most favorite nation(MFN)-----11.1.12 13. How many deserts are in Punjab-------------2 14. Dr.Abdulsalam ko kab nobel prize mila------------1979 15. Nobe prize kon si country daita hae -------------Sweden 16. Neil amstrong ny kb moon pr step rkha -------------1969 17. When Pakistan joined UNO-----30sep1947 18. When IMF was established----1945 19. Who was the first captain of Pakistan Cricket team?----------Hafeez Kardar 20. Savak agency ks mulk ki hae ..--Iran 21. old athme kis country ka hae------Japan 22. punjab act kb khatam howa tha .... 23. fasal kharif ki insepection kb start karna chahey---March 24. fasal rabi ki insepction kb start karni chahey ----October ...
Words: 11979 - Pages: 48
...FT SPECIAL REPORT World Economy Friday October 12 2012 www.ft.com/reports | twitter.com/ftreports Hopes turn to fear and uncertainty Answers to the big issues facing the global economy depend mainly on events in the US and eurozone, writes Chris Giles Meeting of minds: logo for the IMFWorld bank events beginning in Tokyo today Bloomberg Inside » Growth glitches FT specialists report from the eurozone, China, the US and the UK Pages 2, 3 If Obama wins . . . or Romney Some differences seem more symbolic than real Page 4 Cash conundrum The IMF and World Bank have plenty of money but face new challenges Page 5 A threat of double-dip recession is stalking the world economy. Advanced economies are struggling to raise insipid growth rates, while the fast-growing emerging economies cannot maintain their previous momentum. If anything goes wrong – and there are known potential shocks in the coming months – the risk is rising of a dangerous economic slide. The Brookings Institution-Financial Times Tracking Indices for the Global Economic Recovery shows a steep drop in 2012 so far, leading professor Eswar Prasad of Brookings to describe the global economy as “on the ropes”. In the International Monetary Fund’s twice-yearly World Economic Outlook, published this week, Olivier Blanchard, the fund’s chief economist, said the world economy was hamstrung by uncertainty, which was pre- venting companies from investing and households from spending. “Worries about...
Words: 15731 - Pages: 63
...JARAF The Journal of applied research in accounTing and finance V O L U M E 3 , i s s U E 1 , 2 0 0 8 Old Wine in New Bottles: Subprime Mortgage Crisis – Causes and Consequences Michael Mah-Hui Lim Information Lost: A Descriptive Analysis of IFRS Firms’ 20-F Reconciliations Marlene Plumlee and R. David Plumlee Negative Goodwill: Issues of Financial Reporting and Analysis Under Current and Proposed Guidelines Eugene E. Comiskey and Charles W. Mulford Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1263280 JARAF The Journal of applied research in accounTing and finance Publication Information JARAF - The Journal of Applied Research in Accounting and Finance is a scholarly peerreviewed journal jointly published by The Centre for Managerial Finance at Macquarie Graduate School of Management and the Faculty of Economics and Business at The University of Sydney. All journal articles published in JARAF are subjected to double-blind peer-reviews by qualified international experts. Months of Distribution: July – December Current Edition: Volume 3, Issue 1 (2008) ISSN 1834-2582 (Print) ISSN 1834-2590 (Online) Editors Tyrone M. Carlin Professor of Financial Reporting & Regulation Faculty of Economics and Business The University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia Nigel Finch Director, Centre for Managerial Finance Macquarie Graduate School of Management Macquarie University NSW 2109 Australia Editorial Advisory Board Edward I. Altman Max L. Heine Professor...
Words: 13336 - Pages: 54
...Sara Ek Real Estate and Construction Management Han-Suck Song Microfinance, poverty alleviation, financial sustainability, developed world, microfinance programs, empowerment, Grameen America, Acción USA, Project Enterprise Authors Department Master Thesis number Supervisor Keywords Abstract This study strives to examine how microfinance activities can be successfully applied in the developed world. This is done through a field study in New York City. Throughout interviews and observations with three of the largest actors in New York: Acción USA, Grameen America and Project Enterprise, as well as interviews with their clients, the lending processes and key characteristics of the organizations have been mapped. Furthermore, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has been interviewed on the general opinion of microfinance in the US. Previous theory elaborates on some of the major challenges with implementing microfinance activities in the developed world, such as lack of funding and cultural differences hindering the lending processes to be carried out as they are in the developing world. Henceforth, problems regarding regulation, awareness and outreach are discussed. Throughout the observation of the institutions we can confirm that some of the challenges brought up in theory actually are apparent. We do, however, question the criticism towards the use of groupbased lending programs in the developed world. Our study does, in...
Words: 17779 - Pages: 72
...Dictionary of Economics A & C Black London First published in Great Britain in 2003 Reprinted 2006 A & C Black Publishers Ltd 38 Soho Square, London W1D 3HB © P. H. Collin 2003 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the permission of the publishers A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library eISBN-13: 978-1-4081-0221-3 Text Production and Proofreading Heather Bateman, Katy McAdam A & C Black uses paper produced with elemental chlorine-free pulp, harvested from managed sustainable forests. Text typeset by A & C Black Printed in Italy by Legoprint Preface Economics is the basis of our daily lives, even if we do not always realise it. Whether it is an explanation of how firms work, or people vote, or customers buy, or governments subsidise, economists have examined evidence and produced theories which can be checked against practice. This book aims to cover the main aspects of the study of economics which students will need to learn when studying for examinations at various levels. The book will also be useful for the general reader who comes across these terms in the financial pages of newspapers as well as in specialist magazines. The dictionary gives succinct explanations of the 3,000 most frequently found terms. It also covers the many abbreviations which are often used in writing on economic subjects. Entries are also given for prominent economists, from Jeremy...
Words: 81933 - Pages: 328
...Fiscal Year 2011 Annual Financial Report And Shareholder Letter January 2012 Dear Shareholders, Fiscal 2011 was a year of great accomplishment for The Walt Disney Company, marked by creativity and innovation across our businesses globally, record financial results and numerous important steps to position the Company for the future. While 2011 brought us so much to cheer about, it was also marked by profound loss, with the passing of Steve Jobs. Steve’s incredible stewardship of Pixar, and his decision to sell Pixar to Disney in 2006, brought Steve into the Disney family, as a board member, a shareholder, a mentor, and a friend, and we were so lucky for all that he represented and all that he contributed. Disney, ESPN, ABC, Pixar, and Marvel are an amazing collection of brands that grow stronger every day as new platforms and new markets provide enormous new opportunities for high quality content and experiences. To that end, we are fortunate to have a talented group of employees who are committed day in and day out to building our brands around the world. Since becoming President and CEO in 2005, I have focused on three strategic priorities: creating high-quality family content, making experiences more memorable and accessible through innovative technology, and growing internationally. In fiscal 2011, net income attributable to Disney was a record $4.8 billion, an increase of 21% over last year, and revenue was a record $40.9 billion, up 7% from last year. Diluted earnings...
Words: 60491 - Pages: 242
...Keynes, ‘love of money’ and the current crisis Paolo Paesani1 This version 1 October 2010 Preliminary version ABSTRACT Keynes saw ‘love of money’, love for the unlimited accumulation of liquidity as mark of personal success and shield against uncertainty, as a defining element of capitalism. This paper investigates connections between ‘love of money’ and the current crisis establishing two main linkages: bonus-based compensation mechanisms and hedge funds. Closer scrutiny and regulation both of bonuses and hedge funds can help prevent future crises. Permanent solutions to the problems posed by ‘love of money’ however will come only from new models of education and persuasion. Keywords: Causes of the financial crisis JEL: 1 University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, e-mail paolo.paesani@uniroma2.it. A previous significantly different version of this paper has been published in Italian in Il Ritorno dell’Economia Politica , G. Bonifati and A. Simonazzi (Eds.) Donzelli Editore, 2010, Roma. I would like to thank Annalisa Rosselli and Matteo Formenti for their helpful suggestions and comments. The usual disclaimer applies. “Whereas modern theory serves as a simulacrum of the economy – stylised and abstract to be sure – Keynes theory is a diagnostic instrument in the service of Doctor Keynes, consulting economic physician” (Hoover 2006, p. 78) “I also want to emphasise strongly the point about economics being a moral science. [A science that]…deals with introspection and with values...
Words: 7811 - Pages: 32
...institutional stand on economic policy matters and its core funding comes from its Institutional Members and sales of publications. Because it draws on such a large network of researchers, its output reflects a broad spectrum of individual viewpoints as well as perspectives drawn from civil society. CEPR research may include views on policy, but the Executive Committee of the Centre does not give prior review to its publications. The opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and not those of CEPR. Chair of the Board President Director Research Director Guillermo de la Dehesa Richard Portes Richard Baldwin Kevin Hjortshøj O’Rourke Contents Introduction Richard Baldwin and Coen Teulings 1 Opening the debate 1 Reflections on the ‘New Secular Stagnation...
Words: 47021 - Pages: 189
