The OMFIF Podcast

Germany’s economic position: Challenges, opportunities and future policy

Philipp Steinberg, head of economic policy at the German economics ministry, joins Ellie Groves, OMFIF's programmes manager for Europe, to discuss the structural challenges Germany faces. Their conversation details how Berlin is responding to the reality of digitalisation, geopolitical uncertainty, climate change and demographic shifts. The podcast ends with a discussion on the banking sector and setting these issues into the wider context of the euro area.

 

Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Synopsis: Germany's leader in waiting, a harmful currency proposal, and Andrew Bailey's Brexit battles

In this episode of Synopsis, OMFIF's weekly roundup of news and analysis, Subeditor Julie Levy-Abegnoli looks back over the most recent articles published on the OMFIF website, including those on Friedrich Merz's hurdles on the path to German leadership, the US Department of Commerce's recent proposal on currency valuation, and the possible power struggle awaiting Andrew Bailey, the incoming governor of the Bank of England. To receive our newsletters, visit https://thinktank.omfif.org/subscribe.

Articles and other items referenced:

1. Merz's hurdles on German leadership path
2. US Department of Commerce’s harmful proposal
3. Andrew Bailey’s Brexit battles
4. ESG and investment management: Official institutions’ approach to climate risk
5. Balancing Germany’s fiscal policy, green investment and ‘schwarze Null’ budget

Music: Hey Mercy by Pierce Murphy is licensed under an Attribution License.

ESG and investment management: Official institutions' approach to climate risk

Climate risk has been driven to the core of policy-making, but there is no consensus on how public investors, central banks, sovereign funds and public pension funds should respond. Isabelle Mateos y Lago, deputy head of the official institutions group at BlackRock, joins OMFIF's Danae Kyriakopoulou to discuss the roles and responsibilities of official institutions to incorporate climate risk. They assess the dynamics at play from physical climate risks and policy-related changes, the impact of differing central bank mandates on climate policies, and developments in elaborating standardised methodology.

 

Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Synopsis: Green deal widening EU divide, what Libra means for money creation, and Brexiteers' unfinished revolution

In this episode of Synopsis, OMFIF's weekly roundup of news and analysis, Subeditor Julie Levy-Abegnoli looks back over the most recent articles published on the OMFIF website, including those on the green deal for Europe and Libra, Facebook's digital currency. To receive our newsletters, visit https://thinktank.omfif.org/subscribe.

Articles and other items referenced:

1. 'Green deal' could deepen EU tensions
2. What Libra means for money creation
3. Brexiteers' unfinished revolution
4. Brexit and the UK’s approach to international finance
5. Developments in global financial stability: Risks in a low-interest environment
6. Digital currencies: A question of trust

Music: Hey Mercy by Pierce Murphy is licensed under an Attribution License.

Fed talk: The ample reserves framework and dynamism of the US labour market

Joe Gagnon, senior research fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and former director at the Federal Reserve Board, joins Pierre Ortlieb, economist at OMFIF, to discuss the late January Federal Open Market Committee meeting and the state of the Fed’s toolkit. Their conversation covers topics including the ample reserves framework, the dynamism of the US labour market, and prospects for future rounds of quantitative easing.

Items referenced:

Central bank policy sets the lower bound on bond yields

Joe Gagnon’s latest paper with Olivier Jeanne explains why bond yields cannot go below any lower bound on short-term yields set by the central bank, no matter how much QE is used.

What have we learned about central bank balance sheets and monetary policy?

This paper, published by Cato journal, raises the possibility and proposed ground rules for helicopter money, or monetary-fiscal coordination, in the US.

Are Central Banks Out of Ammunition to Fight a Recession? Not Quite.

Joe Gagnon’s recent paper with Chris Collins quantifies how much ammunition the big three central banks – the Fed, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan – have left.

 

Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Synopsis: Fallout from the Fed's repo firefighting, prospects for Trump's re-election, and five scenarios for Brexit

In this episode of Synopsis, OMFIF's weekly roundup of news and analysis, Subeditor Julie Levy-Abegnoli looks back over the most recent articles published on the OMFIF website, including those on the Fed's repo firefighting and how Brexit could play out. To receive our newsletters, visit https://thinktank.omfif.org/subscribe.

Articles and other items referenced:

1. Fed faces repo firefighting fallout
2. US economy may derail Trump 2020 victory
3. 2020s will test leaders' conviction
4. Five scenarios for Brexit
5. Watershed for Europe and the world
6. OMFIF 10th anniversary
7. Central banking in 2020: Risks abound in year to come
8. Sustainable investment in uncertain times: The future of public sector asset management
9. Japan's economy: challenges and prospects

Music: Hey Mercy by Pierce Murphy is licensed under an Attribution License.

Post-crisis US financial regulation: Are we moving towards risk sensitivity?

It has been almost 10 years since the 2008 financial crisis and the enactment of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street reform and consumer protection act. Daniel Tarullo, who was responsible for leading the Federal Reserve Board on financial regulatory reform, including implementing of the Dodd-Frank act, joins Mark Sobel, US chairman at OMFIF, to assess the state of the US banking system. They discuss whether the system is weakening with ‘quiet deregulation,’ concerns over shadow banking and potential regulatory capture, and the need to double down on macroprudential policy in search of high yield in a low interest rate environment.

 

Daniel Tarullo is a professor of practice at Harvard Law School who served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Open Market Committee (2009-17). He was also the Federal Reserve’s representative to the international Financial Stability Board, including four years as chair of its committee on supervision and regulation.

 

Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Synopsis: Superpowers posturing in the Gulf, the US Treasury's odd currency monitoring list, and green bonds break out of the niche

In this episode of Synopsis, OMFIF's weekly roundup of news and analysis, Subeditor Julie Levy-Abegnoli looks back over the most recent articles published on the OMFIF website, including those on US disinterest in Hormuz crippling Iran, the Hungarian central bank's new green bond portfolio, and how the US Treasury could rework its currency monitoring list. To receive our newsletters, visit https://www.omfif.org/subscribe/

Articles and other items referenced:

1. Superpowers posturing in volatile Gulf
2. Green bonds dispel ‘niche market’ status
3. US currency monitoring list needs rethink
4. The Bulletin: Eurovision
5. Supporting growth in the global economy: The future of infrastructure finance

Music: Hey Mercy by Pierce Murphy is licensed under an Attribution License.

Ahead of the ECB: Continuity or change for the bank's toolbox

Francesco Papadia, senior fellow at Bruegel and former director general for market operations at the European Central Bank, joins Marcin Stepan, head of programming at OMFIF, to discuss expectations for the ECB’s monetary policy decision on 23 January. They talk about the euro area’s macroeconomic outlook, the strategic review of ECB monetary policy, potential changes to the central bank’s objectives and instruments, and how policy-makers can help combat climate change.

 

Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Synopsis: Why the ECB should keep its monetary pillar, 2020 predictions, and more

In this episode of Synopsis, OMFIF's weekly roundup of news and analysis, Senior Editor Julian Frazer and Subeditor Julie Levy-Abegnoli look back over the most recent articles published on the OMFIF website, including those on the European Central Bank's strategic review and predictions for 2020. They also share some of the topics OMFIF will be covering this year. To receive our newsletters, visit https://thinktank.omfif.org/subscribe.

Articles and other items referenced:

1. ECB must keep its monetary pillar
2. From new normal to new mediocrity
3. 2020s will test leaders' conviction
4. Navigating economic uncertainty: Outlook for Chile and Latin America
5. Economic stability in Italy and across Europe

Music: Hey Mercy by Pierce Murphy is licensed under an Attribution License.