12th November 2019
In an article published by CityAM (‘Interest rates aren’t central banks’ only ammunition to defend against recession’), our Director, Juan Castaneda, criticised the much shared view by most policy commentators that, in an era of very low interest rates central banks have already exhausted the ability of monetary policy to stabilise the economy in the next crisis. He advocated putting more emphasis on the ability central banks always have to expand the amount of money in the economy, regardless how low policy rates are in most developed economies.
Full text available here.
21st July 2019
In an article published by S&P Global (Market Intelligence) on digital currencies, our Director, Juan Castaneda, advocated for a more open market where central banks can compete with the new providers of digital currencies (such as Facebook’s ‘libra’).
Full text available here.
25th & 26th June 2019
This summer the Institute of International Monetary Research in partnership with the Institute of Economic Affairs ran a Summer Session, hosted by the University of Buckingham, provided at no cost to intellectually curious students interested in economics.
More details available here.
- The Institute of International Monetary Research provides analysis and insight into trends in money and banking, and their impact on the world's leading economies.
- There were a number of renowned and expert speakers, who provided valuable insight into their specialties, and their perspective on money and banking.
11th June 2019:
The Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation - a forum for debate and research about the future of the international finance services sector - had an event on Target2 balances. Our Chair Tim Congdon, and our Director Juan Castaneda, both contributed to the discussion on Target2 balances, along with Jens Eisenschmidt (ECB), Paul De Grauwe (LSE), and Fabio Balboni (HSBC).
Tim Congdon underlined the complexities of running a multi-national single currency area and the risks Target2 (significant) imbalances carry for the sustainability of the euro; risks that were not considered at the time of the launch of the euro. Juan Castaneda proposed to reform Target 2 by
(1) imposing a limit to its balances,
and
(2) charging a ‘penalty rate’ to those national central banks with Target2 credit positions above their contribution to the ECB capital.
Further details are available here.
16th April 2019:
The Institute of Economic Affairs' Shadow Monetary Policy Committee (SMPC), of which both our Director, Dr Juan Castaneda and our Chair Professor Tim Congdon are members of, convened in April for the second time this year to discuss the monetary policy of UK.
The decision to hold current rates passed by a narrow margin of 5 against 4, where Dr. Juan Castaneda argued against a 1/4 point rise in the base rates:
'Juan Castaneda said that he appreciated the discussion about the extraordinarily low level of nominal interest rates. But he could not support a rise in rates in the current monetary environment. All the forecasts are for inflation to remain in the region of 2%. As broad money growth (M4x) has been decelerating in recent months (growing at only 2% annually according to the latest, February 2019, data), he said that there are no inflationary pressures in the medium term, so why change interest rates'.
Further details and the full meeting minutes can be accessed here.
20th March 2019:
In an article published by S&P Global (Market Intelligence) on central bank indepedence, our Director, Juan Castaneda, said that central bank independence has been quietly eroded since the global financial crisis and euro crisis years anyway, as national-level central banks have stepped into the role of lender of last resort for their respective governments.
You can access the piece here.
20th March 2019:
Referring to the Eurozone, Juan Castaneda (IIMR, Director) says that central bank independence has been quietly eroded since the global financial crisis and euro crisis years, as national central banks have stepped into the role of lender of last resort for their respective governments.
Further information can be found here.
We are very pleased to announce that our Chair, Professor Tim Congdon, has contributed as a keynote speaker to the Institute of Public Administration conference on "Administrative Development in Light of Saudi Vision 2030" (18-20 March 2019).
Further information of the conference here.
20th February 2019:
Our Director, Dr Juan Castaneda, has written an article for today's City AM entitled "The Eurozone's push for unified fiscal discipline is doomed to fail".
You can read the full article here.
15th January 2019:
The Institute of Economic Affairs' Shadow Monetary Policy Committee (SMPC), of which both our Director, Dr Juan Castaneda and our Chair Professor Tim Congdon are members of, voted unanimously to hold bank rates at a meeting held in January.
Further details and the full meeting minutes can be accessed here.