Podcasts about economic department

Every day, billions of transactions settle between strangers who have no idea which bank the other uses. That lack of friction is not automatic. Nine-tenths of the money in daily circulation has been created by commercial banks, but it stays trustworthy only because central banks stand behind it, and keep the system in balance.In this week's episode Tim Phillips talks to Stephen Cecchetti (Brandeis University, CEPR) about what happens when new forms of digital money test that architecture. Cecchetti is one of the authors of the eighth Barcelona Report in The Future of Banking series, part of the Banking Initiative at IESE Business School, just published by CEPR as a free download.Will retail central bank digital currencies, tokenised deposits, and stablecoins upset the delicate balance of system that has been running for decades? Stablecoins, for example, do not create money, but they claim the status of money without the institutional guarantee that makes money trustworthy. Three jurisdictions — the US, the EU, and the UK — are each resolving the same underlying contradiction in different ways. None has fully resolved it.The research behind this episode:Niepelt, Dirk, Stephen G. Cecchetti, Hélène Rey, and Xavier Vives. 2026. Digital Money: The Future of Banking 8. London: CEPR Press. Available as a free download from CEPR.To cite this episode:Phillips, Tim, and Stephen G. Cecchetti. 2026. “The digital money supply.” VoxTalks Economics (podcast). Assign this as extra listening. The citation above is formatted and ready for a reading list or VLE.About the guestStephen Cecchetti is the Rosen Family Chair in International Finance at Brandeis University, a Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), and a Research Associate at the NBER. He was previously Economic Adviser and Head of the Monetary and Economic Department at the Bank for International Settlements, and Director of Research at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. His research spanning monetary policy, financial stability, and banking regulation has shaped both academic and policy debate over three decades. He blogs at moneyandbanking.com.Research cited in this episodeWalter Bagehot's lender of last resort doctrine. In Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market (1873), Bagehot argued that a central bank under stress should lend freely against good collateral at a penalty rate. The prescription remains the intellectual foundation for how central banks manage runs and systemic crises. Cecchetti invokes it to make the point that no private substitute for a central bank backstop has ever proved durable, and that the doctrine is now, one hundred and fifty years on, being tested by instruments its author could not have imagined.Monetary uniformity, mobility, and elasticity. The three institutional conditions underpinning general acceptance of money, developed in analysis by the Bank for International Settlements and discussed extensively in the report. Uniformity means a pound is a pound regardless of which bank holds it. Mobility means claims move between users and institutions at low cost and settle with finality. Elasticity means the supply of money can expand when it is under stress. Together they explain why we accept a deposit at face value without doing any analysis of the bank that issued it; and together they identify exactly where new forms of digital money create institutional gaps.Silicon Valley Bank failure, March 2023. SVB's collapse illustrates both the lender of last resort functioning and the limits of no-bailout commitments. Cecchetti notes that SVB's liabilities were still trading at par on the Thursday before its Friday failure because the Federal Reserve stood behind them. He also notes that Circle, the issuer of USDC, held $3.3 billion of its reserves at SVB and was effectively bailed out in the resolution. The episode is one of two occasions in the past twenty years where money market fund-like instruments have been backstopped by the Federal Reserve under stress.Genius Act (United States). Principle-based stablecoin regulation expected to come into effect in the US around 2027. Under its provisions, only stablecoins issued by bank-affiliated issuers will have access to the Federal Reserve; only those will therefore have the institutional backing needed to function as money. Stablecoins issued by non-bank entities will not.Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA), European Union. The EU framework for crypto assets, which entered into force in 2024. For stablecoins, MiCA requires issuers to hold 30 to 60% of their reserves in bank deposits, with no provision for central bank backing. The stated rationale is to keep deposits within the banking system; Cecchetti notes this creates a different category of vulnerability and leaves the question of what happens under stress unresolved.Bank of England stablecoin proposal (United Kingdom). The Bank of England's approach differs from both US and EU frameworks by explicitly requiring large stablecoin issuers to hold significant reserve deposits at the Bank of England, making them in effect narrow banks with a direct central bank backstop. Cecchetti regards this as the most coherent of the three approaches in terms of institutional logic, though the same fundamental question applies: whether holding to that design under stress would be politically sustainable.Tether and the jurisdictional challenge. Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer, is registered in El Salvador having previously operated out of the British Virgin Islands. Its tokens are held by users in multiple countries, traded on exchanges in multiple jurisdictions, and backed by US Treasury securities. Cecchetti uses this to illustrate why local regulation, however well-designed, is necessary but not sufficient; effective oversight of instruments that are genuinely global requires international standards and coordination.Fractional reserve banking and the goldsmith model. The institutional structure described in the episode has roots in mid-seventeenth century England, when goldsmiths began issuing more paper receipts than they had gold in their vaults. The goldsmiths became bankers; the paper became money; the vulnerability to runs became a structural feature of private money creation that persists today. Cecchetti uses the history to make the point that while technology changes how we store and transmit information, the underlying architecture of trust in private money is as old as Newtonian physics.More VoxTalks Economics episodesMaking banking safe, Stephen Cecchetti and Kermit Schoenholtz. Our financial system is supposed to be more resilient than before the global financial crisis, but that didn't save Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank or First Republic. So what went wrong?Related reading on VoxEUNew coins on the block: Digital currencies and the financial system. The authors of the Barcelona Report warn that “Digital money will be reliable only where sound institutions and robust technology come together.”

In this episode, Donna and Sam introduce the latest segment on Authentically Detroit, What's Happening at ECN featuring Outreach Manager for the Housing & Economic Department at Eastside Community Network, Kevin Ashwood.Kevin leads resident engagement, community outreach, and program education efforts centered on housing stability, wealth building, and neighborhood empowerment across Detroit's Eastside.They also introduce the latest addition to the Authentically Detroit Podcast Network, 482Forward Education Organizer, Arlyssa Heard. Arlyssa is taking 482Forward's mission and turning it into a podcast! Have You Heard? Is a podcast dedicated to addressing school reform from all angles. Whether it be students, teachers, parents, or administrators - Arlyssa wants to talk to them all and get to the bottom of one question - how can we produce better outcomes for our students?To stay up to date on all things Authentically Detroit, click here. Support the showFollow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. 

We talked with Melissa Beers and Mike Smith from Salem's Economic Department about their Christmas in July event.

The Bank for International Settlements Annual Economic Report has just dropped, and there's a markedly less positive tone than last year, when it was celebrating imminent soft landings in the global economy. It warns of a deteriorating outlook for growth, coupled with vulnerabilities in the global financial system.  So, what exactly is the BIS worried about, how can policy and regulation respond, and should central banks start worrying about the next systemic crisis? Gaston Gelos and Frank Smets are Deputy Heads of the Monetary and Economic Department at the BIS and are also two of the authors who put together the report. They talk to Tim Phillips about why last year's optimism has disappeared, and how monetary and fiscal policy can adjust to cope with a new era of uncertainty and fragmentation. 

During this episode of ROCKnVINO, hosts Coco and Michelle talk with Bryce Dow-Williamson, Art & Event Consultant, Planning and Economic Department for the City of Santa Rosa. What does that title mean? It means that Bryce makes cool things happen in Santa Rosa, like the Live at Juilliard concert series. There is one more free show left this season, on Sunday, August 18th from 5pm to 7pm. The Pulsators will be the final band performing in this summer's collection of shows at Juilliard Park. These family friendly shows also have beer and wine available for sale, with proceeds benefitting Sonoma County Pride, as well as a food truck on site. You can BYOB and bring a picnic if you like, as well as chairs or blankets to spread out and enjoy the show. Bryce also works on other art and culture events in Santa Rosa, including art shows at the Finley Center, the Railroad Square Music Festival, and shows at The Lost Church.   ROCK'nVINO is sponsored by American AgCredit.

Claudio Borio is the head of the Monetary and Economic Department at the Bank for International Settlements, or BIS. Claudio is also a returning guest to the podcast, and he rejoins Macro Musings to talk about central bank operating systems and the challenge of large balance sheets at central banks. David and Claudio also discuss the basics and uniqueness of the scarce reserve system, the arguments in favor of an abundant reserve system, the politics of large central bank balance sheets, the possibility of a tiered reserve system, and a lot more.   Transcript for this week's episode.   Claudio's BIS profile   David Beckworth's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Follow us on Twitter: @Macro_Musings   Join the Macro Musings mailing list! Check out our new Macro Musings merch!   Related Links:   *Getting Up From the Floor* by Claudio Borio   *Why Central Banks Should (but Might Not) Keep the Market Flooded With Money* by Jon Sindreu   *Corridor, Floor, Other: Are Operating Frameworks Fit for the Future?* by Daniel Hinge

This episode is from another of Blockworks' shows Forward Guidance. We hope you enjoy & remember to go follow Forward Guidance: Spotify: spoti.fi/46LGuNR Apple: apple.co/3hXQu2F -- Today's interview is a very special one. Dr. Claudio Borio, renowned economist and Head of the Monetary and Economic Department at the Bank For International Settlements (BIS), joins Joseph Wang of Fedguy.com and Jack Farley for a wide-ranging discussion on the nature of financial instability and the interplay of monetary policy and fiscal policy. Borio shares insight from recent BIS research on inflationary regimes, financial cycles, and the boundaries of debt-fueled growth. Borio notes that the materialization of interest rate risk has so far been seen in the banking sector, but that we have yet to credit risk. Filmed on October 17, 2023. -- Some of Borio's and the BIS' works mentioned in this interview: “Monetary and fiscal policy: safeguarding stability and trust,” June 2023 Presentation in Basel, Switzerland, Claudio Borio https://www.bis.org/speeches/sp230625a_slides.pdf “The two-regime view of inflation,” March 2023, Claudio Borio, Marco Lombardi, James Yetman and Egon Zakrajšek https://www.bis.org/publ/bppdf/bispap133.pdf “International banking and financial market developments” BIS Quarterly Review, September 2023 https://www.bis.org/publ/qtrpdf/r_qt2309.pdf “Does money growth help explain the recent inflation surge?” 26 January 2023, Claudio Borio, Boris Hofmann and Egon Zakrajšek https://www.bis.org/publ/bisbull67.pdf “On money, debt, trust and central banking,” January 2019, Claudio Borio https://www.bis.org/publ/work763.pdf “Navigating by r*: safe or hazardous?” November 2021, Claudio Borio https://www.bis.org/publ/work982.pdf “The financial cycle and macroeconomics: What have we learnt?” December 2012, Claudio Borio https://www.bis.org/publ/work395.pdf __ Follow Bank For International Settlements on Twitter https://twitter.com/BIS_org Follow Joseph Wang on Twitter https://twitter.com/FedGuy12 Follow Jack Farley on Twitter https://twitter.com/JackFarley96 Follow Forward Guidance on Twitter https://twitter.com/ForwardGuidance Follow Blockworks on Twitter https://twitter.com/Blockworks_ __ (00:00) Introduction (00:32) The Interplay Between Monetary Policy & Fiscal Policy (09:50) High Levels Of Government Indebtedness As A Risk (12:35) Just How Interest Rate Sensitive Is The Global Economy? (15:56) The Financial Cycle (24:12) The Two Inflationary Regimes (36:45) Central Bank Balance Sheet Policy (Quantitative Easing & Quantitative Tightening) (39:34) Liquidity In Sovereign Bond Markets (46:13) Non-Bank Financial Sector Is "Rife With Hidden Leverage & Maturity Mismatches" (50:56) Interest Rate Risk Within Banking System (56:45) Concluding Thoughts On Debt & Inflation __ Disclaimer: Nothing discussed on Forward Guidance or On The Margin should be considered as investment advice. Please always do your own research & speak to a financial advisor before thinking about, thinking about putting your money into these crazy markets.

Today's interview is a very special one. Dr. Claudio Borio, renowned economist and Head of the Monetary and Economic Department at the Bank For International Settlements (BIS), joins Joseph Wang of Fedguy.com and Jack Farley for a wide-ranging discussion on the nature of financial instability and the interplay of monetary policy and fiscal policy. Borio shares insight from recent BIS research on inflationary regimes, financial cycles, and the boundaries of debt-fueled growth. Borio notes that the materialization of interest rate risk has so far been seen in the banking sector, but that we have yet to credit risk. Filmed on October 17, 2023. Some of Borio's and the BIS' works mentioned in this interview: “Monetary and fiscal policy: safeguarding stability and trust,” June 2023 Presentation in Basel, Switzerland, Claudio Borio https://www.bis.org/speeches/sp230625a_slides.pdf “The two-regime view of inflation,” March 2023, Claudio Borio, Marco Lombardi, James Yetman and Egon Zakrajšek https://www.bis.org/publ/bppdf/bispap133.pdf “International banking and financial market developments” BIS Quarterly Review, September 2023 https://www.bis.org/publ/qtrpdf/r_qt2309.pdf “Does money growth help explain the recent inflation surge?” 26 January 2023, Claudio Borio, Boris Hofmann and Egon Zakrajšek https://www.bis.org/publ/bisbull67.pdf “On money, debt, trust and central banking,” January 2019, Claudio Borio https://www.bis.org/publ/work763.pdf “Navigating by r*: safe or hazardous?” November 2021, Claudio Borio https://www.bis.org/publ/work982.pdf “The financial cycle and macroeconomics: What have we learnt?” December 2012, Claudio Borio https://www.bis.org/publ/work395.pdf __ Follow Bank For International Settlements on Twitter https://twitter.com/BIS_org Follow Joseph Wang on Twitter https://twitter.com/FedGuy12 Follow Jack Farley on Twitter https://twitter.com/JackFarley96 Follow Forward Guidance on Twitter https://twitter.com/ForwardGuidance Follow Blockworks on Twitter https://twitter.com/Blockworks_ __ (00:00) Introduction (00:32) The Interplay Between Monetary Policy & Fiscal Policy (09:50) High Levels Of Government Indebtedness As A Risk (12:35) Just How Interest Rate Sensitive Is The Global Economy? (15:56) The Financial Cycle (24:12) The Two Inflationary Regimes (36:45) Central Bank Balance Sheet Policy (Quantitative Easing & Quantitative Tightening) (39:34) Liquidity In Sovereign Bond Markets (46:13) Non-Bank Financial Sector Is "Rife With Hidden Leverage & Maturity Mismatches" (50:56) Interest Rate Risk Within Banking System (56:45) Concluding Thoughts On Debt & Inflation __ Disclaimer: Nothing discussed on Forward Guidance should be considered as investment advice. Please always do your own research & speak to a financial advisor before thinking about, thinking about putting your money into these crazy markets.

A recent report on the racial wealth divide illustrates the stark reality of economic inequality in the United States. Authored by distinguished equity advocate and Chief of Organizing, Policy, and Equity for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), Dedrick Asante-Muhammad's comprehensive study sheds light on the profound disparities in wealth accumulation among racial groups. He joins Tavis to dissect the report's eye-opening findings and to unpack projected trajectories, policy interventions, and the urgent need for systemic change to rectify the deeply ingrained imbalances.

Central banks face difficult trade-offs when deciding the speed and size of interest rate hikes to counter inflation, as well as how long to keep the policy rate at the peak. Egon Zakrajšek, Senior Adviser in the BIS Monetary and Economic Department, discusses the benefits and risks of “front-loading” rate increases, drawing from a recent BIS Bulletin he co-authored with Paolo Cavallino, Giulio Cornelli and Peter Hördahl.

Dedrick Asante-Muhammad - Chief of Organizing, Policy, and Equity for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) and former NAACP Senior Director of the Economic Department and Executive Director of the Financial Freedom Center. He joins Tavis for a conversation on the racial wealth gap, economic inequality, and why movement for Black citizens towards closing the gap have been marginal at best (Hour 2)

#BlackCapitalism #Reparations #RussellMaroonShoatz Dedrick Asante-Muhammad has been a long time thought leader focused on racial economic inequality. He started his work as the first Racial Wealth Divide Coordinator at United For A Fair Economy. He then went on to work with Chuck Collins at Institute for Policy Studies Inequality and Common Good Program. Dedrick then went on to become the Senior Director of the Economic Department for the NAACP and currently is the Chief of Race, Wealth and Community for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. https://ips-dc.org/ips-authors/dedrick-muhammad/ Jared A. Ball is a Professor of Communication and Africana Studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD. and author of The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power (Palgrave, 2020). Ball is also host of the podcast “iMiXWHATiLiKE!”, co-founder of Black Power Media which can be found at BlackPowerMedia.org, and his decades of journalism, media, writing, and political work can be found at http://www.imixwhatilike.org ____________________________________ Follow BPM: JOIN - Click the "JOIN," Subscribe, and Like buttons! WEBSITE - http://www.blackpowermedia.org TWITTER - https://twitter.com/BlackPowerMedi1 INSTAGRAM - http://www.instagram.com/black.power.media FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/Blackpowermedia ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The Covid-19 Pandemic, a once in a lifetime economic recession, and digitalization. These are issues that everyone has heard about. Tied to all of these issues, however, is a little known but important financial institution - the Bank for International Settlements. Also known as the “Central Bank of Central Banks”, the BIS's role in all these issues is crucial but little understood. Why do we need a Central Bank for Central Banks and how can the BIS help in addressing the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and digitalization? Join us for a discussion with the Head of Monetary and Economic Department at the BIS - Claudio Borio - to find out more.Disclaimer: On the day of the interview we had trouble with our microphones. That is why the audio is double for most of the interview. Sincere apologies we are working on solving this issue for future interviews.

What are the joint German-UK ambitions to tackle climate change on the way to COP26 (and beyond)? How and where can cooperation be expanded? Journalist Christoph Prössl talks to renowned policy advisors Jennifer Tollmann and Susanne Dröge, who assess their countries' goals for COP26 and analyse why both countries are seen as world leaders on climate policies. Introduction by Oliver Schramm, Head of the Economic Department of the German Embassy London.

Dr. Mangal Goswami, Executive Director of the SEACEN Centre, talks to former Governor Már Guðmundsson about Iceland’s crisis and recovery and the lessons learned. More generally they discuss the challenges facing central banks in small, open and financially integrated economies (SOFIES) due to cross-border financial integration and volatile capital flows. Preserving monetary and financial stability in SOFIES requires more instruments than generally deployed before the great financial crisis (GFC), such as foreign exchange interventions, macroprudential tools and capital flow management tools, that in turn gives rise to the need to develop an integrated policy framework. Finally, they discuss to what degree these lessons are relevant in the current crisis. The views of former Governor Már Guðmundsson on these issues are shaped by his terms at the Central Bank of Iceland from August 2009 to August 2019 but also by his work at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) as the Deputy Head of its Monetary and Economic Department from 2004-2009. He was a chairman of a regular meeting at the BIS of Governors from small open economies 2017-2019.

In Episode 102 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with economist and former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada, William White, about the state of our market economy and the prospects for an ‘international reset’ of the global financial system. William R. White was most recently chairman of the Economic and Development Review Committee at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) from 2009 to 2018. He is famous for having flagged the wild behavior in debt markets before the Great Financial Crisis of 2008. He began his career in 1969 as an economist working at the Bank of England. In 1972 he joined the Bank of Canada where he spent 22 years and was appointed Deputy Governor in September 1988. In 1994, he joined the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and served as its Economic Adviser and Head of the Monetary and Economic Department from May 1995 to June 2008.  In their conversation, Demetri and Dr. White discuss a wide range of topics focused primarily on the global financial system. Their conversation begins with a focus on the state of the current system, including a discussion about the consequences of regulatory reform (both intended and unintended), as well as endogenous transformation to the system brought about by independent changes in the behavior of banks and other financial participants. Most of the conversation dealing with possible changes to the International Monetary and Financial System happen during the Episode Overtime, including a discussion about central bank-issued cryptocurrencies, private sector digital money like Libra, and Bitcoin. The overtime also includes a lengthy discussion about government policy in the face of climate change, and how this relates to the politics of monetary policy. William White has spent five decades as a central banker and international financial policymaker, and we are fortunate beneficiaries of the wisdom that he has accrued during these many years.  Additional topics discussed during the episode include post-crisis reform, market architecture, currency wars, negative interest rates, the Chinese renminbi, causes for inflation, Japanification, the ‘Global Ring of Fire,’ and much more. You can access the rundown to this week’s episode, along with a transcript of Demetri and Dr. White’s conversation through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers are granted access to our overtime feed, which can be easily be added to your favorite podcast application. Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe & Support the Podcast at http://patreon.com/hiddenforces Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod

In episode 99 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Claudio Borio about outstanding sources of financial instability and some of the challenges facing Central Banks as the economy and markets begin to show signs of weakness heading towards the end of 2019. Dr. Borio heads the Monetary and Economic Department at the Bank for International Settlements and has written extensively about some of the longer-term, structural forces bedeviling policymakers since the early 2000s.  More recently, the Federal Reserve held its annual Economic Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where Fed Chairman Jay Powell delivered a speech titled, “Challenges for Monetary Policy,” in which he addresses “three longer run questions” bedeviling policymakers. In the speech, Powell breaks up the post-war history of central banking into three distinct eras: 1950–1982, 1983–2009, and 2010—. The day before Jay Powell’s speech, on August 22nd, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, published a series of tweets where he conducted a similar retrospective analysis of central bank policy going back to the stagflationary period of the 1970s. According to Larry Summers, “the high inflation and high-interest rates of the 1970s generated a revolution in macroeconomic thinking, policy, and institutions,” while the “low inflation, low-interest rates and stagnation of the last decade…deserves at least an equal response.” Further, Summers writes, “the financial crisis had roots in bubbles and excessive leverage caused by efforts to maintain demand after the 2001 recession,” which suggests that perhaps, the maniacal focus on inflation amplified by the experience of the stagflationary nineteen-seventies blinded central banks and policymakers to a build-up in financial risks exacerbated by keeping interest rates “too low for too long” during the 1990’s and early 2000’s.    The conversation you’re about to hear was recorded on Monday, August 19th, several days before the publication of Jay Powell’s speech, as well as Larry Summers’ tweets. Some of the key questions we attempt to answer during this discussion are: “What’s driving the slow growth environment that we are in?” “Are rates low because central banks are keeping them low, or are rates low because central banks, encouraged by a prolonged period of disinflation, kept interest rates chronically below the ‘natural rate’ for too long, thus encouraging the growth of asset price fueled credit bubbles that have turned central banks from being stewards of the expansion to now being managers of the contraction?”  Demetri and Claudio also explore the different eras highlighted in Chairman Powell’s speech, search for the origins of inflation targeting as a policy objective, question the efficacy of neutral rate targeting, and consider some of the possible consequences that could arise from an economic model that has increasingly come to rely upon debt financing in order to grow. In the overtime, Demetri asks Dr. Claudio Borio questions about the BIS 2019 Annual report, with a keen focus on some of the more immediate risks facing the global economy. This week’s rundown is particularly useful for those seeking to gain a deeper sense of the issues discussed during the podcast. You can access that rundown, along with a transcript to this week’s episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers also gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily be added to your favorite podcast application. Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe & Support the Podcast at http://patreon.com/hiddenforces Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter a at @hiddenforcespod

Claudio Borio, Head of the BIS Monetary and Economic Department, explains the particular challenges for emerging market central banks in setting monetary policy and the multiple tools they use.

Dr. Rummel and Mark kick off the new year by recapping the topics we covered in the podcasts we did in 2018, including some clips from the various interviews we conducted. Also a sneak preview of next month's podcast! Errata: During the recording of this podcast, Mark McKenzie incorrectly made reference to a “recent IMF Paper” between 20.16 – 20.20 mins, 24.30-20.34 mins and 32.56-33.00 mins. Please note the correct reference is: Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Working Papers No 765 “ Beyond the doomsday economics of “proof-of-work” in cryptocurrencies” by Raphael Auer of Monetary and Economic Department published in January 2019. The paper is available at https://www.bis.org/publ/work765.htm Sound credits: Initial 7 seconds of "We're back online" by Kaptin_Random, from Freesound.org (https://freesound.org/people/Kaptin_Random/)used under the following Creative Commons license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/legalcode) Intro music from Accelerated Ideas (http://www.accelerated-ideas.com/freemusictracks/aisearchtracks.aspx?stxt=intro)

Dr. Ole Rummel and Mark McKenzie chat with Dr. Jean Pierre Landau, who has served as the Executive Director of the IMF and World Bank and now with the Economic Department of Sciences Po, Paris.

Dr Claudio Borio (Bank for International Settlements) What is wrong with the International Monetary and Financial System? The speech will explore the Achilles heel of the international monetary and financial system, with specific reference to the role that the dominance of the US dollar may play. Based on that, it will then draw possible policy implications. Claudio Borio is the Head of Monetary and Economic Department at the Bank for International Settlements. Speaker(s): Dr Claudio Borio (BIS) Event Date: 24 February 2017 Released by: SOAS Economics Podcast

Austerity may be defined as a large fiscal contraction that causes a substantial increase in unemployment. If the government has a budget deficit that is unsustainable, or a debt level that is too high, it is sometimes suggested that austerity is inevitable. For an economy with a flexible exchange rate and debt in its own currency, which includes the Eurozone as a whole, this is simply false. Fiscal contraction can always be delayed until monetary policy can offset the deflationary impact of any fiscal contraction. Unfortunately this is not true for a member of a currency union that requires a greater fiscal contraction than the union as a whole. Even in this case, however, a sharp and deep fiscal contraction will be an inefficient waste of resources. As the macroeconomic theory behind these propositions is simple and widely accepted, the interesting question about the current global austerity is why it has happened. Simon Wren-Lewis is currently Professor of Economic Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University, having previously been a professor in the Economic Department at Oxford. He is also an Emeritus Fellow of Merton College. He began his career as an economist in H.M.Treasury, and then moved to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, where he ended up as Head of Macroeconomic Research. In 1990 he became a professor at Strathclyde University, and from 1995 to 2006 he was a professor at Exeter University. He has published papers on macroeconomics in a wide range of academic journals including the Economic Journal, European Economic Review, and American Economic Review. Since becoming an academic he has advised H.M.Treasury, the Bank of England and the Office for Budget Responsibility. In September 2015 he was appointed to the British Labour Party's Economic Advisory Committee. He writes on economic policy issues in various publications and at his blog: mainlymacro.blogspot.com. Academic work has often had a strong policy focus. In 1989 he published, with colleagues at the National Institute, a study suggesting that an entry rate of 1.95 DM/£ into the ERM was too high, which at the time was a minority view. In 2002 he wrote one of the background papers for the Treasury's 2003 assessment of its five economic tests for joining EMU. He was also the principal external advisor to the Bank of England on the development of its core macroeconomic models. A long time advocate of Fiscal Councils, his 2007 proposal was influential in the formation of the UK‘s Office of Budget Responsibility. Since starting his blog at the end of 2011, he has written extensively about macroeconomic policy in the UK and the Eurozone.