Like I ranted yesterday, GDP is a very poor way of measuring how certain things are getting better. And my absolutely favourite example is how the Internet has revolutionized the ability to interact with and eavesdrop upon thinkers and teachers – whom one would previously have had to ambush in some University corridor. An example [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Quantitative Easing’
29 Apr
Ignoring the Hippopotamus next door …
Well, if our own deficit is the Elephant in the Room, what is a nearby E300bn economy heading to bankruptcy? Will future post-election commentators wonder what on earth the Guardian was doing running so many different columns on bigotgate while the next economic crisis burst upon our shores? (to be fair to the Guardian, they [...]
28 Mar
A fitting moment to announce Q-day
Which will mean nothing to anyone reading. But since I started writing about Quantitative Easing, I have had a Google alert feeding into my Google Reader, triggered by news containing the words “quantitative easing”. This has fed about 50 items a week into my already stuffed inBox, and as some kind of punishment I have [...]
23 Mar
Ed Conway’s thoughts on nominal GDP growth targets
can be found here. He mentions yours truly, but expands on the pros and cons to a degree I have not yet managed: [Wilkes] suggests, among other things, that the Bank start targeting nominal economic growth (in other words GDP as we know it plus inflation). It is an intriguing idea: the Bank’s CPI target is [...]
9 Mar
Me, elsewhere
In LibDemVoice, arguing for how QE can be changed to be both more Liberal and more Democratic. Neat, huh?
8 Mar
The fiscal battle heats up. Business versus …. who?
There are days when I would recommend everyone read the FT, and this is one. Because they have put Credit Where It’s Due in their leader about Quantitative Easing. I hope this helps it come to the attention of some of the thinkers that have helped inspire the second suggestion: that nominal demand be targetted [...]
5 Mar
QE ends; gilt market shrugs; the anniversary verdicts come out
So: did QE work? The Guardian says that ‘The Bank of England deserves a little credit” for averting Depression. In the event, the apocalypse never quite materialised. Last year was the weakest since the war, and the 18-month-long recession saw 6.2% wiped off economic output; but most economists believe it could have been much worse [...]
3 Mar
In the Guardian today: me
‘The hidden cost of quantitative easing‘ QE has been the right thing to do. Despite the sluggish recovery, things could be far worse. But it has probably increased inequality, which lumps the government with a future bill – if you believe that inequality is something that comes with real social costs, upon which there is [...]
1 Mar
Does a narrowing poll lead spell Doom to the Proud Pound?
The gilt market is down. The pound is really down. The faces below the blue-rinse in Brighton are grim (despite the Spectator thinking the speech was just fine). All because of a YouGov poll in the Sunday Times (see LibCon premature celebration) – apparently. The logic should be clear. In a crisis the Labour party [...]
1 Mar
‘Credit where it’s due’ is launched today
CentreForum’s latest piece of research is launched today: our first major economics report since A Balancing Act won Think Tank Publication of the Year.
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