Fischer’s lunch with the FT…and links on low rates

Date:20Aug2017

Fed Vice–Chair Stan Fischer has had lunch with the FT, which is featured in FT’s August 19-20 weekend issue. Lots of interesting stuff… In the interview, “Fischer agrees with Greenspan, saying the persistently low level of real long-term interest rates is a conundrum.”

This business of low rates is a super hot macro topic, on which Fischer has spoken recently. (Here is an earlier speech by Fischer on the same issue.) Incidentally, the voxeu has released a column on the topic, which challenges (what is arguably) the most popular framework used when thinking about low rates: the loanable funds theory (admittedly, I am yet to fully digest the argument in the column).

Speaking about low rates, these two classics (by Bean et. al. and BoE economists) – which are in any event referenced in the above-mentioned blogs – and a series of earlier blogs from Ben Bernanke that explores various hypotheses (e.g., savings glut, loose monetary policy, secular stagnation, term premium)– that ends with this – are also not to be missed.

They make superbly interesting and rich readings for 101 global macro classes…