Archive for March, 2016

Preliminary Program for the 25th Minsky Conference

Michael Stephens | March 24, 2016

The preliminary program has been posted for the 25th Annual Hyman Minsky Conference, being held April 12-13 here at Blithewood on the Bard College campus.

The deadline for registration is April 1st.

Tuesday, April 12

8:30−9:00 a.m.	Registration
9:00−9:15 a.m.	Welcome and Introduction Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, President, Levy Institute
9:15−10:30 a.m.	Session 1. GLOBAL FRAGILITY AND EMERGING MARKETS OUTLOOK MODERATOR: Theo Francis, Special Writer, The Wall Street Journal SPEAKER: Jan Kregel, Senior Scholar, Levy Institute; Professor, Tallinn University of Technology Fernando J. Cardim de Carvalho, Senior Scholar, Levy Institute; Emeritus Professor of Economics, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
10:30 a.m. − 12:30 p.m.	Session 2. COMMODITIES AND DERIVATIVES REGULATION MODERATOR: Izabella Kaminska, Journalist, Financial Times SPEAKERS: Michael Greenberger, Professor, School of Law, and Director, Center for Health and Homeland Security, The University of Maryland Robert A. Johnson, President, Institute for New Economic Thinking; Senior Fellow and Director, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute Michael Masters, Founder and Chairman of the Board, Better Markets
12:30−2:15 p.m.	Lunch SPEAKER: Robert J. Barbera, Codirector, Center for Financial Economics, The Johns Hopkins University “Six Degrees of Separation: Why the Fed’s Strategy of Precautionary Unemployment Is Nutty”
2:15−4:45 p.m.	Session 3. IS THE CURRENT CREDIT STRUCTURE CONDUCIVE TO FINANCIALLY STABLE RECOVERY? MODERATOR: TBD SPEAKERS: Henry Kaufman, President, Henry Kaufman & Company, Inc. Richard Berner, Director, Office of Financial Research, US Department of the Treasury Martin L. Leibowitz, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley Albert M. Wojnilower, Economic Consultant, Craig Drill Capital
4:45−6:45 p.m.	Session 4. MINSKY, INEQUALITY, AND THE MONETARY/FISCAL POLICY OUTLOOK MODERATOR: TBD SPEAKERS: Viral V. Acharya, C. V. Starr Professor of Economics, New York University Stern School of Business Scott Fullwiler, Professor of Economics and James A. Leach Chair in Banking and Monetary Economics, Wartburg College Stephanie A. Kelton, Research Associate, Levy Institute; Chief Economist, US Senate Budget Committee; Professor, University of Missouri—Kansas City
6:45−7:15 p.m.	Reception
7:15 p.m.	Dinner

Wednesday, April 13

9:00−11:30 a.m.	Session 5. US ECONOMIC OUTLOOK FORECAST MODERATOR: Eduardo Porter, Columnist, The New York Times SPEAKERS: Lakshman Achuthan, Cofounder and Chief Operations Officer, Economic Cycle Research Institute Bruce C. N. Greenwald, Robert Heilbrunn Professor of Finance and Asset Management, Columbia University Michalis Nikiforos, Research Scholar, Levy Institute Frank Veneroso, President, Veneroso Associates, LLC
11:30 a.m. − 1:30 p.m.	Session 6. BANK REGULATION, TOO BIG TO FAIL, AND LIQUIDITY MODERATOR: Peter Eavis, Reporter, The New York Times SPEAKERS: Edward Kane, Professor of Finance, Boston College Walker F. Todd, Trustee, American Institute for Economic Research L. Randall Wray, Senior Scholar, Levy Institute; Professor of Economics, Bard College
1:30−3:15 p.m.	Lunch SPEAKER: Barney Frank, Former US Representative (D-MA, 4)
3:15−5:15 p.m.	Session 7. EUROPEAN PERFORMANCE AND REGULATORY OUTLOOK MODERATOR: TBD SPEAKERS: Emilios Avgouleas, Chair, International Banking Law and Finance, School of Law, University of Edinburgh Mario Tonveronachi, Professor of the Economics of Financial Systems, University of Siena Loukas Tsoukalis, Pierre Keller Visiting Professor, Harvard University
5:15−7:00 p.m.	SPEAKER: Vítor Constâncio, Vice President, European Central Bank “A Challenging International Economic Environment for Central Banks”

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Tcherneva: The Biggest Existential Threat to the Eurozone Is Its Design

Michael Stephens | March 18, 2016

Related: “Euroland’s Original Sin” (pdf)

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Bloomberg: Modern Money Theory Gaining Converts

Michael Stephens | March 14, 2016

Bloomberg just published an article focused on the rise of Modern Money Theory (MMT), featuring comments by Senior Scholar Randall Wray:

The 20-something-year-old doctrine, on the fringes of economic thought, is getting a hearing with an unconventional take on government spending in nations with their own currency.

Such countries, the MMTers argue, face no risk of fiscal crisis. They may owe debts in, say, dollars or yen — but they’re also the monopoly creators of dollars or yen, so can always meet their obligations. For the same reason, they don’t need to finance spending by collecting taxes, or even selling bonds. […]

No one’s saying there are no limits. Real resources can be a constraint — how much labor is available to build that road? Taxes are an essential tool, to ensure demand for the currency and cool the economy if it overheats. But the MMTers argue there’s plenty of room to spend without triggering inflation.

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As the Euro Time Bomb Ticks Away the ECB Turns Desperate

Jörg Bibow | March 9, 2016

These are not happy times for Europe. Ukraine, Russia, and rising anti-democratic influences in Hungary and Poland represent latent threats at the European Union’s eastern front. The prospect of Brexit is a more acute one at its western front.

After letting loose manifold conflicting forces that continue shaping internal politics in many EU countries and setting them on collision course with their partners, the refugee situation appears to be on the verge of bestowing another humanitarian crisis on the union’s most vulnerable and unfortunate member: Greece. Never mind the Catalan question: it almost appears minor by comparison, but actually represents yet another fundamental challenge to the European project. “Misfortune seldom comes alone,” a German saying goes; the nation that is increasingly pulling the strings in European affairs but appears at risk of alienating itself even more so than its partners while doing it.

Considering all this, the European political authorities may almost be forgiven for having lost sight of the smoldering crisis of the euro, the union’s flagship endeavor that was meant to foster prosperity and political union – but turned out to deliver quite the opposite. One key player, the European Central Bank (ECB), does not wish to partake in the peculiar mix of denial and delusion about the state of the euro. As the specter of deflation and lasting “Japanization” (or worse) is taking hold, again, the euro’s guardian of stability readies itself for unleashing a fresh round of unconventional policies to prop up the Eurozone’s feeble recovery.

So it’s Draghi showtime again. But how much good, if any, can the ECB really do at this point? I fear the ECB showman’s display of apparent power may be turning into a sad saga of hope and desperation. The ECB can no longer camouflage the fact that ample central bank liquidity alone will not heal the manifold and deep euro fault lines that are plaguing the currency and symbol of European unity. Make no mistake: Europe will very likely be facing crunch time this year – with nowhere to hide for anyone. continue reading…

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