The Zimbabwe government is back to its old money-printing tricks. As demand for Zimbabwe dollars dwindles, the government has ramped up restrictions on the use of substitutes. Late last month, as reported by Bloomberg News, "Zimbabwe’s government gave the central bank powers to impose civil penalties to…
Back in July, I shared here some thoughts concerning the Fed's conference in Chicago that month, which was dedicated to a review of its tools, strategies, and communications. Among other things, I said I was disappointed by the short-shrift given to NGDP targeting by Lars Svensson's paper…
"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there'd be a shortage of sand." (Attributed to Milton Friedman) While my fellow Fed-watchers have had their eyes firmly glued to the repo-market for several weeks now, I've been preoccupied with…
The Fall 2019 edition of the Cato Journal, the Cato Institute’s interdisciplinary journal of public policy, is now available online. Readers of Alt-M will find the articles on monetary and financial topics of special interest. Their topics range from financial inclusion, to macroprudential policy, to Modern Monetary…
Last week was a significant one for housing finance policy, as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau gathered input on how to reform the underwriting rules that mortgage lenders must follow. With $15 trillion of mortgage debt outstanding, this is a subject of great economic significance for the…