Before the first presidential debate fades into the next news cycle, there are three economic points that bear revisiting: We need a new paradigm for trade policy. The outsider campaigns of Trump and Sanders, along with the realities of many people and communities hurt by globalization, have elevated international trade as a major issue in this… Read more
Archive for the ‘Federal Reserve’ Category
Trump, Yellen, the Fed, and the Election
Over at WaPo…file this under monetary political economy. Trump’s comments about the Fed were way off, no surprise. But I’m glad the topic came up and hope it continues to be part of the debate.
Anatomy of a hawkish dove
Eric Rosengren, the President of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank, was one of three dissenting votes in the Fed’s decision last week not to raise the benchmark interest rate they control. Since Rosengren has a pretty dovish record—he’s not one to see spiraling inflation around every corner, when the data say otherwise—his dissent was surprising… Read more
Chair Yellen, bless her heart (and mind), remains in data-driven mode
Over at WaPo, with a focus on this biz about “the economy still has running room.” I explain how I understand it, show some indicators that reinforce the point, and add my own wrinkle, one I consider very important: allowing for more running room has the potential to create even more running room.
Read this now: Fed governor Lael Brainard’s speech on the “new normal”/asymmetric risk
Don’t have time to do justice to this speech given today by Fed governor Lael Brainard, but it’s just a beautiful merging of common sense and very smart, contemporary macro and monetary policy. I’m try to give more commentary later, but for now, I’ll pull some key quotes (my bold in every case): With the… Read more