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."

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Assorted central banking readings

* An interesting FT article on the globalisation of the renminbi here.

* A good exposition of the different types of quantitative easing taking place around the world by the former Goldman economist, Gavyn Davies.

* Is the Bank of England (BoE) losing its inflation-fighting credibility? I've touched on this before. Serious people are starting to question it more and more. See the BoE Deputy Governor's comments here:

"The rapid recovery in emerging markets has reawakened global inflationary pressures. And here in the United Kingdom, inflation has been running above the MPC’s 2% target for an uncomfortably long time...Given the unexpected strength of inflation in recent months, this risk has probably increased of late. So we shall be watching these indicators, and their impact on wages and prices, like proverbial hawks."

* The European Central Bank has released a ‘green statement’. Note to the RBA’s PR manager, Vanessa Crowe.