scholarly journals Warehousing: A Historical Lesson in Central Bank Independence

Author(s):  
Owen F. Humpage

This Economic Commentary explains how warehousing—a seemingly innocuous institutional arrangement between the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury—came to threaten the Fed’s independence. Warehousing began as an arcane procedure designed to help the Treasury cover a specific type of foreign-exchange exposure. It then grew into a supplemental source of funding for the Treasury's foreign-exchange interventions. Eventually the procedure morphed into a sizeable off-budget source of funding for other Treasury activities and seemed an inappropriate subversion of the congressional appropriations process, a development that raised concerns within the Fed about its ability to conduct monetary policy free from political concerns.

Significance The sharp slide in the forint is fuelling inflationary pressures, testing the resolve of the National Bank (MNB -- the central bank) to continue providing stimulus to the economy. Despite a surge in core inflation in Hungary to 3.8%, the MNB is using this year’s dovish U-turns by the ECB and the US Federal Reserve (Fed) as cover to keep monetary policy ultra-loose. Impacts The dollar index is strengthening despite the dovish U-turn by the Fed and is putting an end to the sharp rally in EM currencies in January. Inflationary pressures will be muted across the euro-area, with core inflation falling to 0.8% in March, less than half the ECB’s target. PMIs show Czech and Polish manufacturing sectors continuing to contract and Hungarian growth at its weakest level since 2016.


Author(s):  
Cristina Bodea

The recent global economic crisis has renewed interest in the nature and history of monetary policy, the distributional effects of central bank policy, central bank governance, and the personalities at the helm of major central banks. In modern times, a country’s central bank formulates, or, to a minimum, implements, a country’s monetary policy, or the process of adjustment of a country’s money supply to achieve some combination of stable prices and sustainable economic growth. Monetary policy depends heavily on a country’s exchange rate system. Under fixed exchange rates, the country’s commitment to keep the level of the currency at a certain level dictates monetary policy to a great degree. As the gold standard was unraveling after World War I, many countries experienced high inflation or even hyperinflation. A similar situation faced monetary policy after the collapse of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates in the 1970s. By the 1980s, however, countries turned toward central bank independence as an institutional arrangement to control inflation. The current issues surrounding monetary policy have emerged from the historical increase in central bank independence and the 2007 economic and financial crisis. In particular, the opacity of central bank decisions, given their autonomy to pursue stable prices without political interference, has increased the demand for transparency and communication with the government, the public, and financial markets. Also, the 2007 crisis pushed central banks toward unconventional measures and macro-prudential regulation, and brought back into focus the monetary policy of the euro area.


Author(s):  
Elena Lutskaya ◽  

The article examines the views of Western researchers on overcoming the COVID-19 crisis and its consequences. The main focus is on the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve system - the most developed financial system that affects both the US economy and global markets.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 39-47
Author(s):  
Larysa BATIUK

Introduction. The article deals with the peculiarities of the transmission mechanism of monetary policy in the implementation conditions of the Basel Committee requirements on Banking Supervision "Basel III". The problem of the mechanism violation of the classical monetary multiplier, the imbalance of the monetary circulation system, the frequency increase of debt defaults and the amplitude of macroeconomic fluctuations in the global economic system are marked as a study result of the effects of the credit mitigation policy conducted by the US Federal Reserve amid the global financial crises of the last decade and changes in the nature of financial intermediation based on the synthesis of asset securitization and structured finance instruments. The purpose of this article is to investigate changes in monetary policy and financial intermediation in the implementation context of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision Basel III as a source of imbalance in the global economy. Research methodology. The system method, method of scientific abstraction, methods of analysis and synthesis, statistical, comparison, generalization, scientific prediction were used. Results. The article deals with the implications of implementing the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision Basel I and Basel II in the area of monetary policy and financial intermediation; peculiarities of monetary multiplier mechanism operation in modern conditions are revealed; the possible consequences of implementing Basel III requirements for the mechanism of monetary supply formation in the world economy are analysed; the change in the role of gold as monetary metal in central bank foreign exchange reserves and the implications of these changes in terms of price dynamics and the distribution of real wealth in the global economy are examined. Conclusions. It is proposed to consider the requirements of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision "Basel III" as such, which will exacerbate the volatility of global financial markets, increase the likelihood of increasing the frequency of debt defaults and, given the possibility of using gold as a means of redistribution of real wealth in the global economy, will cause an increase in the amplitude of macroeconomic fluctuations. Keywords: monetary policy; financial intermediation; the central bank; US Federal Reserve; Basel III; bank capital structure, monetary base; money multiplier, correspondent accounts; money supply; monetary gold; global economy.


2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 533
Author(s):  
David Gordon

The Federal Reserve Bank (FED) plays a vital role in the US economy. The roles and functions of the Fed are discussed here. This paper also offers an explanation of the traditional tools the Fed uses to conduct monetary policy. Open market operations are explained. The important role of the discount rate is discussed. The legally required reserve ratios are also explored. This author believes that the Fed has recently created a new tool. This tool is the payment of interest on demand deposit accounts at the Fed. This new tool is explained and its ramifications explored. The functions of monetary policy are also expanded upon in this paper.


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