Moral hazard, the fear of the markets, and how central banks responded to Covid-19
While the direct economic consequences of Covid-19 have been significant, the impact on the financial markets has been more nuanced. This column uses...
Which programming language is best for economic research: Julia, Matlab, Python or R?
The most widely used programming languages for economic research are Julia, Matlab, Python and R. This column uses three criteria to compare the...
Financial Volatility and Economic Growth, 1870–2016
We investigate the causal impact of financial risk on economic growth, using a panel spanning 150 years and 74 countries. Persistent low risk...
The coronavirus crisis is no 2008
Many comparisons have been made between the coronavirus crisis and the global systemic crisis in 2008. This column argues that seen through the lens...
Artificial intelligence as a central banker
Artificial intelligence, such as the Bank of England Bot, is set to take over an increasing number of central bank functions. This column argues that...
Systemic consequences of outsourcing to the cloud
Financial institutions are increasingly outsourcing information technology to the cloud, motivated by efficiency, security, and cost. This column...
The dissonance of the short and long term
The type of risk we most care about is long-term, what happens over years or decades, but we tend to manage that risk over short periods. This column...
Central banks and reputation risk
As central banks accumulate ever more job functions, their reputation risk increases. This column offers a cautionary tale from Iceland where, after...
Artificial Intelligence and Systemic Risk
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing how the financial system is operated, taking over core functions because of cost savings and...
Cryptocurrencies: Policy, economics and fairness
Cryptocurrencies promise to replace fiat money with private money whose integrity is underpinned by algorithms, not government guarantees. While the...
Cryptocurrencies: Financial stability and fairness
Cryptocurrencies are primarily held today for speculative reasons and see little economic use outside of that. This column argues that if private...
The hierarchy of financial policies
Financial policy is determined in multiple domains by separate government authorities. This column explores the hierarchical ranking of these domains...
Which numerical computing language is best: Julia, MATLAB, Python or R?
Julia, MATLAB, Python and R are among the most commonly used numerical programming languages by economic researchers. In this post, Jon Danielsson and...
Learning from History: Volatility and Financial Crises
The Review of Financial Studies, Volume 31, Issue 7, Pages 2774–2805.
Cryptocurrencies are lousy investments
Are cryptocurrencies the future of money, Ponzi schemes, speculators’ dreams, or just a prosperity gospel? While there is money to be made in the...
Cryptocurrencies
Are cryptocurrencies the future of money, Ponzi schemes, speculators dream, freedom or just a cult?
