With negative rates in Europe (the ECB deposit rate is -0.5% though the lending rate is zero), Switzerland and Japan, how low can rates go in the UK? The answer is that they can go lower, which means negative. The Bank of England is currently studying how that would work in practice, with the Governor …
Quantitative Easing and the risks of rising wealth inequality
In the face of unprecedented actions to safeguard public health, government-mandated lockdowns have seen global economies in free-fall. In response, central banks have embarked on several innovative monetary and fiscal measures. Official short-term interest rates were cut to record lows in most advanced economies. In some jurisdictions, like in the EU and Japan, rates have …
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Deal or no deal?
We need to talk about Brexit. July should have seen a Brexit deal ratified at the European Meeting of ministers. That did not happen. And, to state the obvious, at the time of writing, an agreement has not been made. And, with PM Johnson publicly saying that no deal would be a ‘good outcome’, the …