The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Thursday, October 21, 2010

For central banking boffins: why 27bps vs. 25bps?

Amusing anecdote from Citi in relation to changes in Chinese interest rates:

"At last, 25bps – Outside observers have often been puzzled by why the PBOC adjusted rates in 27bp increments. The reason is that on the abacus, adding multiples of 9 was much easier than adding multiples of ten. So the modern PBOC inherited that special character from the old days. But clearly, computers and market participants may prefer rounder numbers."
at 7:01 AM