Where Does Profit Come from in the Payments Industry?
The recent development in the payments industry, namely the rise of Fintech companies, has created an opportunity to revisit the economics of the payment system and the puzzling nature of…
Is Labor Market Signaling the Weakening of Macroeconomic Models?
U.S. labor department's latest statistics, published on January 10th, suggested that the unemployment rate remained at a 50-year low of 3.5 percent. However, the same report indicates thatU.S. wage growth dropped below…
Is the Recent Buyback Spree Creating Liquidity Problems for the Dealers?
The anxiaties about large financial corporations' debt-funded payouts—aka "stock buybacks"—is reemerging a decade after the financial crisis. Companies on the S&P 500 have poured more than $5.3 trillion into repurchasing…
Is Debt a Sin?
In the recent world bank report published in the first week of January, the Washington D.C.-based group said there had been four waves of government debt accumulation over the last…
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…
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…