Why are interest rates so low in the Unites States? We find that they are low primarily because the premium for safety and liquidity has increased since the late 1990s, and to a lesser extent because economic growth has slowed. We reach this conclusion using two complementary perspectives: a...

We formalize the idea that the financial sector can be a source of non-fundamental risk. Households' desire to hedge against price volatility can generate price volatility in equilibrium, even absent fundamental risk. Fearing that asset prices may fall, risk-averse households demand safe assets...

There have been criticisms of debt sustainability analysis in general, including the IMF's own evaluation of the usefulness of its debt sustainability methodology (e.g., IMF, 2017). This paper's focus is narrow. On the basis of theoretical arguments and empirical evidence, it argues that the...

The current financial, economic and fiscal crisis is among other things characterised by complex interrelations between financial, fiscal, macroeconomic and political instability. One instability breeds another, with feedback loops generating self-reinforcing adverse cycles: The financial crisis...

The paper reviews the calculation of Indian wholesale and consumer price indices and suggests improvements in the light of past experience and international best practices. It confirms that food inflation has been the driver of domestic inflation. The paper studies the recommendations of the...

This study presents empirical evidence about the determinants of long-term government bond yields for 19 economies of the European Monetary Union (EMU) over the period 1995-2018 within a multivariate panel framework. The fixed effects estimators reveal that the relationship between public debt...

Not since the Great Depression have monetary policy matters and institutions weighed so heavily in commercial, financial, and political arenas. Apart from the eurozone crisis and global monetary policy issues, for nearly two years all else has counted for little more than noise on a relative...

The current financial, economic and fiscal crisis is among other things characterised by complex interrelations between financial, fiscal, macroeconomic and political instability. One instability breeds another, with feedback loops generating self-reinforcing adverse cycles: The financial crisis...

Coinage debasements were a prevalent and generally very harmful feature of most economies in late-medieval western Europe, and most certainly in Burgundian Flanders (1384-1482). Flanders also experienced several economic recessions or contractions from three related sources: warfare; the...

The paper reviews the calculation of Indian wholesale and consumer price indices and suggests improvements in the light of past experience and international best practices. It confirms that food inflation has been the driver of domestic inflation. The paper studies the recommendations of the...