Question 2: Do you agree that central banks should operationalise the use of these alternative tools of unconventional monetary policy for use either in the near term, or in the future, as economic conditions warrant?
There are various alternatives to QE to use at the ZLB that are likely to be more effective than QE. In particular central banks should actively explore, in cooperation with governments, setting up the ability to undertake helicopter money. One of the undesirable side effects of central bank independence is that governments are no longer able to undertake a money financed fiscal stimulus in a deep recession. Governments and central banks need to put that right by one means or another.
Question 1:Do you agree that central banks should continue to use the unconventional tools of monetary policy deployed in response to the global financial crisis as part of monetary policy under normal economic conditions?
I assume by 'normal times' you mean that short rates are not at or near their lower bound. In which case you have one instrument, nominal short rates, which dominate the other (QE) in terms of predictability and effectiveness. There is therefore no reason to use the inferior instrument.
I suspect that it will lead to significant reductions in employment in the residential care sector, because here the scope for squeezing profits is small and the government partly fixes the price. That implies, of course, that falls in employment could be avoided if the government was not so fixated by the deficit.
I think fiscal rules, backed by an independent watchdog with a wider mandate than the current OBR, are a good idea. The problem with the fiscal charter is that it is a very bad fiscal rule. Fiscal aggregates are subject to all kinds of shocks beyond the economic cycle, Trying to achieve a surplus each year will therefore lead to costly volatility in taxes or spending, just as having to reach an inflation target each year would lead to damaging volatility in interest rates. The target is also asymmetric in a cyclical sense, and so puts no pressure on governments to reduce debt more rapidly in boom years.
The CFM surveys informs the public about the views held by prominent economists based in Europe on important macroeconomic and public policy questions. Some surveys focus specifically on the UK economy (as the CFM is a UK research centre), but surveys can in principle focus on any macroeconomic question for any region. The surveys shed light on the extent to which there is agreement or disagreement among these experts. An important motivation for the survey is to give a more comprehensive overview of the beliefs held by economists and in particular to include the views of those economists whose opinions are not frequently heard in public debates.
Questions mainly focus on macroeconomic and public policy topics. Although there are some questions that focus specifically on the UK economy, the setup of the survey is much broader and considers questions related to other countries/regions and also considers questions not tied to a specific economy.
The surveys are done in collaboration with the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).
The future role of (un)conventional unconventional monetary policy
====================================================================
Question 2: Do you agree that central banks should operationalise the use of these alternative tools of unconventional monetary policy for use either in the near term, or in the future, as economic conditions warrant?
====================================================================
====================================================================
Question 1: Do you agree that central banks should continue to use the unconventional tools of monetary policy deployed in response to the global financial crisis as part of monetary policy under normal economic conditions?
====================================================================
National Living Wage and the UK economy
====================================================================
Question 2: Do you agree that the new NLW will have a muted effect on wages and prices?
====================================================================
====================================================================
Question 1: Do you agree that the new National Living Wage is likely to lead to significantly lower employment?
====================================================================
Autumn Statement & Charter for Budgetary Responsibility
======================================================================
Question 2: Do you agree that the Charter for Budgetary Responsibility is helpful in underpinning the credibility of fiscal policy?
======================================================================
Pages