Is the Fed Losing Steam in Controlling Interest Rate?
As the final countdown to bring in 2020 begins, new concerns have emerged regarding the Fed's continuous ability to control the interest rate. Developments in the financial market such as…
Paid in Full? The Student Loan Crisis
Student loan debt is a universal crisis in our nation that is transcending race, age, and gender groups. A CNBC report illustrates that while student loan debt has slowed in…
Coronavirus Outbreak Could Have Major Economic Impact
Last week, the world learned that a deadly, fast-moving disease called the coronavirus had appeared in several Chinese cities. The mysterious illness has already killed more than a hundred people…
Can Shadow Banking Replace Traditional Banking? We Will See Soon Enough
"A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it." Jean De La Fontaine The shift in the provision of financial intermediation away from traditional banks…
The Economics of Bans on Plastic Straws
Whole Foods announced on May 20 it would stop offering plastic straws in all of its stores. Other companies such as Starbucks and McDonald’s are taking the same steps. Meanwhile,…
NBC News: “No pay, no spray: Firefighters let home burn”
This article may be a bit dated, but it’s an intriguing story about the difficult moral situations that sometimes come about in markets. In most urban areas, property or sales…
Should the Fed Open its Balance Sheet to the Securities Dealers? A Lesson from the Recent Wild Swings in the Repo Rate
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new” -Socrates If the Fed's understanding of the existing problems in…
What Rules Inflation Targeting? A Time for Abandoning Taylor Rule
“No matter how much suffering you went through, you never wanted to let go of those memories.” ? Haruki Murakami Following the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), most central banks around…
Central Counterparties: When Monetary Policy is Not Enough
The overall picture of the U.S. economy, though far from stable, is hardly threatening. For instance, U.S. payrolls grew by 128,000 in October. Nevertheless, the Fed cut the interest rate…
Is Libra Money? Depends on Where in Credit Cycle We Are
“What institutions build, they can destroy." Anonymous Mark Zuckerberg's testimony to Congress on October 24th, 2019, created anxieties on whether Facebook would circumvent financial regulators as it readies its planned…