The Rise of Robots in the Workplace

07th November, 2019

“This post is the first in a two-part series on the impact of robots on the workplace and the labor force.”

Read More

Emergency German banknote designs

22nd October, 2019

“During the first world war and the ensuing economic crisis, many German towns issued notgeld, or emergency money, to combat cash shortages. The designs range from local fairytales and legends to political messages.”

Some fantastic designs pictured in this online gallery, especially one issued by the Braunschweig public transport authority in 1921.

Read More

Has Australia Really Had a 28-Year Expansion?

08th October, 2019

“This discrepancy between the growth rate of per capita GDP and the growth rate of GDP implies that population growth has been a key factor for Australia’s economic expansion. A rising population increases the size of the economy, and therefore total output increases, which is reflected in the level of GDP.”

Read More

Do Yield Curve Inversions Predict Recessions in Other Countries?

09th September, 2019

“In this blog post, we examine the yield curve for six countries with some of the largest advanced economies in the world: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the UK, the US”

Read More

St Louis Fed: Who Are the U.S.’s Largest Trade Partners?

08th September, 2019

“In this post, we examine the U.S.’s overall trade deficit, as well as the trade balance with respect to major U.S. trading partners.”

Read More

RBA Speech: Inflation Targeting and Economic Welfare

01st August, 2019

Address by Philip Lowe to Anika Foundation Luncheon

Read More

NPR Planet Money: Fed Cut

01st August, 2019

The FED has lowered rates “But this decision by the Fed is controversial because right now the US economy seems to be doing fine — and cutting rates if the economy doesn’t need help is risky. So, should it be lowering rates right now? Today Cardiff and Stacey debate the wisdom and discuss the whys and wherefores of a rate cut now.”

Read More

Do banks have pricing power?

05th July, 2019

How to measure pricing power and competitiveness in an increasingly concentrated US banking system?

Read More

The Coast Guard Just Busted a Garlic-Smuggling Operation in the Caribbean

05th July, 2019

Unlike other forms of smuggling that often involves illegal or banned substances, garlic is smuggled primarily for economic reasons.

“As part of the recent trade war between China and the United States, the U.S. imposed tariffs on Chinese garlic of 10 percent.”

Read More

IMF Working Paper – Enabling Deep Negative Rates to Fight Recessions: A Guide

30th May, 2019

“The experience of the Great Recession and its aftermath revealed that a lower bound on interest rates can be a serious obstacle for fighting recessions. However, the zero lower bound is not a law of nature; it is a policy choice. The central message of this paper is that with readily available tools a central bank can enable deep negative rates whenever needed—thus maintaining the power of monetary policy in the future to end recessions within a short time.”

Read More