Monthly Archives: September 2017
Two Ways Central Banks can do Monetary Policy even if Bitcoin totally replaces Dollars as Medium of Exchange
Just a quickie, in response to Benjamin Vitaris' article about Warren E. Weber's Bank of Canada Working Paper (pdf) (HT Tony Yates on Twitter). [Update: and read Tony's post, on commercial banks and lender of last resort, as a complement to this post.] Suppose that Bitcoin totally replaces the Canadian Dollar (and every other currency) […]
Central Bank Communication and the Term Structure
It's a choice between being surprised by immediate small changes, and being surprised by warnings of much bigger future changes. A simple and maybe obvious point. I don't know if it's been made before; if not, it should have been. The Bank of Canada has eight Fixed Announcements Dates per year. At each FAD it […]
Migration, Wages, and Corner Solutions
I'm trying to get my head straight on something. Macro farmboy lost in Urban Economics again. Read at your own risk. If immigration always increases real wages (or well-being), do we end up in a "corner solution", where everyone bunches together in one location leaving other locations empty? If so, that's a reductio ad absurdam, […]
Looking for a University President
“Some people think that a college president’s life is full of joys and a host of friends. I know that he frequently walks in sorrow and alone because of the times he must do what seems impossible.” Paul V. Sangren (1948) “What a President Learns” Journal of Higher Education, 19, 6, 287-288. Well, my university […]
The exchange rate and net exports “contribution” to growth
This post is about national income accounting, and its dangers. Reading Simon Wren-Lewis' post about Brexit and real wages made me finally decide to try to get my head clear about something I've been meaning to get it clear about for some time. I think Simon might be wrong about something (I'm not sure though, […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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