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 …
US Election – an economic perspective
The forthcoming US election is a momentous one. Many in the US argue that it is the most important US election in living memory for several reasons. Others abroad agree because who becomes President has enormous potential consequences not just for the US, but for the rest of the world. From an economic perspective, the …
Capital markets are increasingly unmoored from the real economy
Imbalances in the financial sector or the real economy – the usual trigger for recessions – have been markedly absent from the current global economic downturn. Instead, the cause this time was a government-mandated shutdown of the economy owing to a global health crisis. The end of shutdown will see economic growth resume (as indeed …
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