Mark Carney in Davos: what’s up next for the global economy

By Erica Alini - Saturday, January 26, 2013 at 4:03 PM - 0 Comments

(Photo courtesy of: World Economic Forum)

The job of fixing financial markets is by no means over, and what does or does not happen over the next two years will be crucial, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney said at the World Economic Forum annual gathering of the world’s financial elite in Davos, Switzerland.

Here’s a quick summary of the governor’s remarks:

• The global economy isn’t completely out of the woods yet

Bailouts and tighter banking rules haven’t eliminated the “tail risks” to the global economy and the stability of financial markets. The next bit of financial reform will have to increase oversight of the shadow banking sector (that is, institutions that in some ways operate like banks but have so far escaped stricter rules) and over-the-counter-derivatives, which are privately negotiated and have remained unregulated. These have contributed to exacerbating the crisis in 2008, and might do so again if left unchecked, the governor argued. The remarks were interpreted as a warning that the Financial Stability Board, an international financial regulator which Carney currently heads, will be soon tackling these issues.

• Central banks can’t do it all

Central banks, which have aggressively sought to stimulate growth in many advanced economies by keeping interest rates at rock-bottom and pumping money into the economy, can’t restore lasting global growth on their own.“There is not an ability of central banks to take all this risk out or set the seeds for a sustainable recovery,” Carney said. Sensible fiscal policy and structural reforms to eliminate the remaining vulnerabilities that permitted the 2008 crisis are essential parts of the cure, the governor noted.

• But monetary policy hasn’t run out of options

Still, Carney rejected suggestions by co-panelist Angel Gurria, head of the OECD group of rich countries, that central banks have run out of tools to prop-up fledgeling economic recoveries around the developed world. Monetary policy options haven’t been “maxed out,” the BoC chief argued.

The remark also ran counter the position of Sir Mervyn King, current governor of the Bank of England, which Carney will start heading in July. Speaking to reporters this week, King said he believed the bank had run out of means to boost Britain’s economic growth. Carney refused to elaborate on whether the remaining policy options he alluded to include NGDP targeting, a controversial measure the governor praised in a December speech and that has made him the target of some criticism in Britain. (Stephen Gordon explains what NGDP targeting is here.)

Continue…

Mark Carney on the price of your house (and the value of his privacy)

By John Geddes - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 at 3:42 PM - 0 Comments

Far be it from me to suggest that Mark Carney’s career trajectory and choices of vacation spots aren’t fascinating—and both topics got a decent share of attention at his news conference today—but the Bank of Canada governor’s latest message on the Canadian housing market strikes me as even more interesting.

Here at Maclean’s—as you might have noticed if you watch our cover stories, including this recent one—we are quite intrigued by the housing market. And I don’t think we’re alone, based on the evidence of the many dinner conversations I’ve heard turn, inexorably it seems, to real estate prices. Carney’s message today, as he discussed the bank’s quarterly monetary policy report, is that the heat is out of the market.

Continue…

Carney says vacation stay at Brison’s cottage was not inappropriate

By The Canadian Press - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 at 12:49 PM - 0 Comments

OTTAWA – Mark Carney says it wasn’t inappropriate for him to vacation at the cottage of the Liberal finance critic while being courted to run for the party’s leadership.

The Bank of Canada governor says he appreciates that questions were raised but insists the visit was part of his private life and private vacation.

The bank governor adds he doesn’t feel required to discuss details of his private life and his interactions with friends.

The central banker stayed at Scott Brison’s cottage in Nova Scotia last summer while key members of the Liberal party were courting Carney.

That raised questions about Carney’s impartiality and judgment, but the central bank has said Carney did not run afoul of conflict rules.

It said bank duties were not discussed.

The friendship which began in 2004 when Carney was an associate deputy minister at Finance and Brison was the Liberal public works minister.

Carney is used to being courted, most successfully by Britain’s finance minister, who has convinced him to become the next governor of the Bank of Engla

Sunny no more, Bank of Canada expected to paint economy in darker hues

By Julian Beltrame - Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at 4:09 PM - 0 Comments

OTTAWA – Mark Carney has got some explaining to do.

It is no mystery that the Bank of Canada governor will keep the key interest rate moored at one per cent on Wednesday, but some fancy footwork is required to account for how the central bank’s policy team could have been so off about the economy in the past year.

Given the enormous uncertainty in the world, economic forecasters should be prepared to eat some humble pie, says Derek Holt, vice-president of economics with Scotia Capital.

But the Bank of Canada’s forecasts require a double helping.

Continue…

Want to be the next Bank of Canada governor? Sign here

By Rosemary Westwood - Friday, January 11, 2013 at 4:37 PM - 0 Comments

When the Bank of Canada interviews for the next governor, it may want to add one final step: the signature test.

Because if the John Henry of the next Mark Carney looks anything like the loopty-loop scribbles of a two-year-old, there could be trouble. Or, comedy, at least.

Just as there is in the U.S. right now with the nomination by President Barack Obama of a new Treasurer Secretary, Jacob “Jack” Lew. About Lew’s handwriting, we can’t be sure. But his signature looks like a really great roller coaster, or a telephone cord:

That’s got the U.S. media giggling, and Obama is playing along.

“When this was highlighted yesterday in the press, I considered rescinding my offer to appoint him,” Obama joked.

To the best knowledge of the folks at the Bank of Canada’s Currency Museum, no Canadian has every been rejected for the prestigious post of governor thanks to their signature.

“In the past, from material that’s been received by the collection, there doesn’t appear to have been any real revision or rejection of an officer’s signature,” says curator David Bergeron.

And putting those signatures onto Canadian bills is “pretty straightforward, actually.”

Both the governor and deputy governor sit down and sign a few pieces of paper. They pick the best signature, and a team of designers makes the scribbles fit the space available on the bill. Then the governor or deputy governor signs off on their signature, and the Minister of Finance has the final say.

A few fun (not quite as funny, but it’s Canada) facts about currency signatures:

• Graham Towers was Governor of the Bank of Canada from Sept. 10, 1934 to Sept. 10, 1954. His signature has appeared the for the greatest number of years on Bank of Canada notes.
• The signature of Gerald Bouey remained on Canadian bills long after he retired as governor of the Bank of Canada in 1987, “up to two years” according the currency museum. While it is difficult to determine the exact date of the signature change from Bouey to Crow as Governor of the Bank of Canada, it happened sometime between Bouey’s retirement on Jan. 31, 1987 and the issue of the Birds of Canada $10, which never bore Bouey’s signature, on June 27, 1989.
• Signatures were added to Bank of Canada notes first by letterpress and later by intaglio, a type of printmaking. The current method for applying signatures to notes is through lithography.

2012 on Parliament Hill: John Geddes sums up a year in 12 chapters

By John Geddes - Saturday, December 29, 2012 at 1:44 PM - 0 Comments

How many senators did Prime Minister Stephen Harper appoint in 2012? How many years does the government allow, in its latest plan, for “development and acquisition” of F-35 fighter jets? How many premiers, provincial and territorial, attended the November economic summit in Halifax? (Hint: Saskatchewan’s just phoned in.)

In all cases, the answer is an even dozen. But for our purposes here—in this third annual installment of a year-capping look back—we’re interested in 12 only as the number of months in the calendar. Select just a single story for each, and 2012 might almost begin to show some semblance of coherence.

Continue…

What’s underneath the no comment?

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, December 22, 2012 at 1:32 PM - 0 Comments

The Globe hears that the Finance Minister is concerned about Mark Carney’s dealings with the Liberals.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is privately disappointed and concerned over Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney’s courtship by federal Liberals as well as his holiday stay at the home of an opposition MP, sources say.

The Finance Minister feels strongly that public servants should maintain the appearance of impartiality and is concerned when actions call that into question, sources say.

‘Mark says there is no partisan political activity’

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, December 21, 2012 at 2:14 PM - 0 Comments

Jim Flaherty talks to Sun News about the bank governor.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is satisfied that Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney was not dabbling in partisan politics when Carney spent a week last summer vacationing at the Nova Scotia home of a Liberal MP.

“Mark says there is no partisan political activity,” Flaherty said in a year-end interview broadcast on Sun News Network Thursday. “That’s very important. It’s fundamental, I think, for confidence in our institutions. So I haven’t commented on it other than that because it’s up to the governor, I think, if he chooses to comment on it to go ahead and comment.”

Mark Carney walks into a bar

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, December 20, 2012 at 9:31 AM - 0 Comments

The governor of the Bank of Canada stops by a gathering of reporters.

Carney seemed reluctant to speak on-the-record about the political controversy. He did make it known, however, that he believes suggestions that he was engaged in partisan political activity are baseless and that partisans of parties other than the Liberals had also sought him out with an eye towards recruiting him. He also said he has not yet started searching for a home in London, England.

I was at the bar last night, but didn’t speak with Mr. Carney. I just sat back and observed the scene with bemused amusement. (Mr. Carney and I did meet once, briefly, on a street corner in downtown Ottawa—which is to say we were introduced by a mutual acquaintance upon crossing paths—but otherwise I don’t believe we’ve ever spoken.)

Mark Carney drinks beer, makes news

By macleans.ca - Thursday, December 20, 2012 at 7:15 AM - 0 Comments

Mark Carney drinks beer, makes headlines

Storified by Maclean’s Magazine · Thu, Dec 20 2012 07:46:32

Flaherty defers

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at 3:02 PM - 0 Comments

The Finance Minister still doesn’t have anything to say about Mark Carney and the Liberals.

“I’ve spoken with the governor,” Flaherty told reporters Wednesday at an event in Burlington, ON. ”I don’t really have any comment on the issue right now. I imagine, at some point, he might be willing to respond.”

Mark Carney: He who is without sin…

By Paul Wells - Tuesday, December 18, 2012 at 3:58 PM - 0 Comments

So last night several dozen members of the Media Party joined a smaller cohort from the Conservative Party for a Christmas party at 24 Sussex Drive. Laureen Harper made little chocolate mice for the dessert tray. The event was strictly off the record, a new formal stipulation in place since Jane Taber surprised us all by writing up chapter and verse of the prime minister’s cocktail-party chat for the Globe a year ago, so I will tell you not a word that Stephen Harper shared with us. I can, however, report that Andrew MacDougall said not a word.

And it wasn’t for lack of effort on my part. “Answer the Mark Carney question of your choice,” I said to him, attempting to be sly.

“No comment,” he said, smiling and staring resolutely into the middle distance.

“Was there anger?” I asked.

Continue…

Accounting for Mark Carney

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, December 18, 2012 at 2:17 PM - 0 Comments

John Geddes considers the rules that apply to the governor of the Bank of Canada.

Paul Boothe defends Mr. Carney.

As a former central banker, I understand very well the value of central bank independence and credibility.  My own view is that I doubt very much that the independence or credibility of the Bank of Canada has been impaired … Having worked side-by-side with Mark Carney, I do know that he is a person of enormous talent, energy and most importantly, integrity.  He drives a hard bargain, but always with the public good clearly in mind.  From personal experience, gained working together in the pressure-cooker environment of senior public service, I have come to trust Mark to use his talent and energy to always do what he believes is right for Canada.  Nothing I have read has shaken my confidence in his purpose or his integrity.

I’m told Mr. Carney is scheduled to appear before the British treasury committee on February 7.

What rules apply to Mark Carney’s political activities?

By John Geddes - Tuesday, December 18, 2012 at 11:37 AM - 0 Comments

(Nathan Denette/CP)

In the swirl of debate around Mark Carney’s reported involvement with Liberals eager to have him run for their party’s leadership, there’s been a troubling lack of precision about exactly what rules apply. Some commentators hold that since Carney is governor of the Bank of Canada he must avoid any hint of contact with partisan politics. Others shrug off the fruitless courtship as standard Ottawa stuff and no big deal.

For my part, I’m less interested in the gut reactions of observers than in finding out exactly what Carney is and is not allowed to do. If you imagine that would be a straightforward inquiry, you’d be wrong. The Bank of Canada’s lawyer, I’m told this morning, holds that Carney is restrained, when it comes to party politics, with respect to any “specific activity undertaken in the public domain,” like political fundraising or actually running for office.

Continue…

The Carney affair: ‘He’ll have to be far more careful over here’

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, December 18, 2012 at 9:10 AM - 0 Comments

More reaction from British MPs.

Matthew Oakeshott, the Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman, said there needed to be clear demarcation lines between the governor and parliament to maintain the Bank’s independence. “He’ll have to be far more careful over here – no riding with Cameron or skiing with Osborne,” he said.

Paul Myners, a City minister in the previous Labour administration, said he expected Carney to face tough questioning when he appears before parliament at his confirmation hearing. “I guess it would have been taken into account by the chancellor but will also no doubt feature strongly in his interview with the treasury select committee,” said Myners, who was also a member of the Bank of England court, which acts as its governing body. ”We delude ourselves if we try to pretend that the governor does not take political questions – the current one has pursued policies that have had a profound impact on the distribution of wealth, favouring those in debt over those who have saved, and favouring the well-off retired over the poor. The important thing is to be accountable to a credible and transparent court, which is not the case at the moment, and accountable to parliament.”

The Carney affair: ‘There is a risk on being open about your place on the political spectrum’

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, December 17, 2012 at 10:51 PM - 0 Comments

Jim Flaherty has nothing to say about Mark Carney and the Liberals.

“I have no comment on any of that,” he said. “I usually have comments on everything, but I have no comment on any of that.”

The New Democrats would like you to know that Peggy Nash would never invite the bank governor to her vacation home.

A New Democratic Party spokesman said Monday the party considers the Bank of Canada governor to be a non-partisan position and would never undermine that by inviting the governor to stay at an MP’s house.

And several British MPs are eager to hear what Mr. Carney has to say for himself.

Andrew Tyrie, the Tory chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, told the Times of London on Monday: “My colleagues will want to address every such issue at the preappointment hearing.” … Some British Conservative MPs who want Britain to adopt a more aggressive monetary policy expressed concern to The Times on Monday about Mr. Carney’s conversations with Canadian Liberal Party members. Mark Field, the Tory MP for the City of London, said: “Now we know he’s a liberal, there seems no doubt that it will be ‘business as usual’ for interest rates right through until 2015.” Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Somerset Tory MP, told The Times: “There is a risk on being open about your place on the political spectrum. Having someone with known political views in a nominally apolitical job can lead to disagreements.”

Updated: Governor Carney’s vacation stay with Liberal critic not a conflict, BoC says

By Julian Beltrame, The Canadian Press - Monday, December 17, 2012 at 7:00 PM - 0 Comments

OTTAWA – The Bank of Canada tried to quell questions about its governor’s impartiality and judgment Monday, saying Mark Carney was not afoul of conflict rules by vacationing in the summer at the cottage of the Liberal finance critic.

The central bank confirmed a weekend report that Carney stayed at Scott Brison’s Nova Scotia cottage while key members of the Liberal party were courting him for the leadership.

Spokesman Jeremy Harrison said there was nothing improper in the visit, and that bank duties were not discussed.

“The Bank of Canada’s general counsel, who is responsible for enforcing the bank’s conflict of interest policy, has assessed that this visit does not breach the bank’s conflict of interest guidelines in any way,” Harrison said.

“Neither the Bank of Canada, nor governor Carney, have an actual or potential commercial or business relationship with Mr. Brison.”

Harrison added that Carney and Brison had been friends for about a decade and that the visit to the MP’s cottage at Cheverie, N.S., cannot “be defined as partisan or political activity.”

Brison confirmed the friendship, which began in 2004 when Carney was an associate deputy minister at Finance and the Nova Scotia MP was the Liberal public works minister, but refused to elaborate about the visit.

“We entertain friends often at our Cheverie home. It is not our intention to publicly discuss personal time with friends in our private space,” he said.

Carney is used to being courted, most successfully by the finance minister of Great Britain, who has convinced him to become the next governor of the Bank of England in July.

But the report that Carney had been sought out for the Liberal leadership — particularly the suggestion he did not immediately shut down the entreaties — has placed him and the bank in a murky area of ethics, causing some to review his past speeches and policy decisions for signs of taint.

Desjardins Capital Markets economist Jimmy Jean noted the “chatter,” but called “reckless” one assertion that the central bank might have “intentionally kept monetary policy too restrictive (recently) such as to tarnish the Conservative party’s economic track record.”

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who appointed Carney to the job in 2008, shut down any questions on the issue when asked both Sunday night and Monday.

“I have no comment on any of that, and I usually have comments on everything,” he said.

Several Bay Street economists, who asked not to be quoted, said they saw no evidence that Carney had conducted monetary policy in any way other than impartially.

Carney has acknowledged in the past to being approached by Liberals for the job, but maintained he was not interested, at one time jokingly responding: “Why not become a circus clown?”

In the Globe and Mail article, Carney said he had been approached by “different people, different parties.”

The article quotes Carney as saying that he never sought the job and did nothing to encourage suitors.

“Nobody did anything on my behalf. I never asked anybody to do anything. I never made an outgoing phone call. I never encouraged anybody to do anything.”

Liberal MP John McCallum, also a former finance critic and private sector economist, said he had a short conversation with Carney in August because he had heard the speculation, which he said he found “unusual.”

He Carney neither confirmed or denied interest.

“I wasn’t lobbying, I just casually mentioned it.”

The Bank of Canada’s conflict-of-interest policy cautions against the “appearance of impropriety,” and says employees offered hospitality or other benefits should ask themselves: “Does it feel right?”

Other questions to be considered: “Is there a chance that this could reflect negatively on me or on the Bank? What would a reasonable person think about my actions? Would I be embarrassed if others knew I took this action?”

The policy does not ban outside political activity. “Employees are not excluded from participating in political activities as long as their actions are not likely to be interpreted by the public as being representative of Bank policy.”

Carney, who briefed finance ministers on the state of the economy at a federal-provincial meeting at Meech Lake, Que., on Monday, left the meeting without taking questions from reporters.

Mark Carney’s visit to Scott Brison’s vacation home

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, December 17, 2012 at 11:22 AM - 0 Comments

A statement from Jeremy Harrison, a spokesman for the Bank of Canada, on the governor’s visit to the home of a Liberal MP this past summer.

“During their summer vacation, the Governor and his family travelled around Nova Scotia. The Carney family spent a portion of their time staying at Scott Brison’s Cheverie vacation home. Mr. Brison and Governor Carney are personal friends, and have been so for about a decade. The visit was part of the Governor’s and his family’s personal vacation time. The Bank of Canada’s General Counsel, who is responsible for enforcing the Bank’s Conflict of Interest policy, has assessed that this visit does not breach the Bank’s Conflict of Interest guidelines in any way. Neither the Bank of Canada, nor Governor Carney, have an actual or potential commercial or business relationship with Mr. Brison. Mr. Carney’s acceptance of hospitality provided by a personal friend does not arise out of ‘activities associated with official Bank duties’. Nor can it be defined as partisan or political activity.”

Explain yourself, governor

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, December 17, 2012 at 9:42 AM - 0 Comments

Mike Moffatt explains his concerns about Mark Carney and the Liberals.

The problems for Mr. Carney and the bank now reach beyond recent monetary policy decisions. A month before Mr. Carney had announced that he would not run for the Liberal leadership – famously retorting: “Why don’t I become a circus clown?” – he gave a speech in Calgary critical of Tom Mulcair’s position that Canada is suffering from Dutch Disease. He called Mr. Mulcair’s position “overly simplistic and, in the end, wrong.” It is unusual, though not unheard of, for the Governor of the Bank of Canada to weigh in on policy debates. His remarks were in all likelihood an independent attempt to stifle a stale talking point that had turned into a political football. That some will now almost certainly go back and parse his comments in an attempt to uncover even the slightest taint of partisanship is a major problem for the bank.

If the allegations are untrue, Mr. Carney must refute them as quickly as possible in order to protect the bank’s reputation. If not, the bank must distance itself from Mr. Carney as quickly as possible and request his immediate resignation.

According to the iPoliitcs morning brief, Mr. Carney feels “stung” by the criticism he has taken and he and the Bank will be addressing these accusations today.

The question of Mark Carney

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, December 16, 2012 at 11:00 PM - 0 Comments

Stephen Gordon explains his concerns about Mark Carney’s wooing by the Liberals and Sun Media picks up the Globe story.

This evening, I asked the Prime Minister’s Office: Does the Prime Minister have confidence that Mark Carney has done his work as governor of the Bank of Canada in a non-partisan manner and will continue to do so until his scheduled departure?

Here is the response I received.

As the PM said at the time of the BoE announcement, Mr. Carney has done an admirable job as Governor of the Bank of Canada.

The full statement from Mr. Harper after Mr. Carney’s appointment to the Bank of England was announced is here.

The Carney affair with the Liberal Party: It will all end in tears

By Stephen Gordon - Sunday, December 16, 2012 at 8:33 AM - 0 Comments

(Chris Wattie/Reuters)

I — and presumably most people familiar with the recent history of monetary policy — read this article in Saturday’s Globe and Mail with mounting horror:

Mark Carney was cast as the perfect alternative to Justin Trudeau by a tight network of Liberals who pulled out all the stops last summer to attract the Bank of Canada governor into the Liberal leadership race.

Mr. Carney was responsive to the efforts, and his actions over the summer – taking phone calls, asking questions about the race, staying over at a senior Liberal MP’s house during a week-long family holiday in Nova Scotia – fueled speculation about his candidacy.

By September, Liberal officials were trying to put together a team of organizers and supporters, and mapping out Mr. Carney’s road to victory at next year’s Liberal convention.

Continue…

Mark Carney and the Liberals

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, December 15, 2012 at 1:48 PM - 0 Comments

The Globe details attempts to woo the bank governor.

Dozens of interviews over the past few weeks provide clearer evidence of the effort to convince the man who’s been called the “outstanding central banker of his generation” that he had a shot at winning the Prime Minister’s Office.

Speaking to The Globe this week, Mr. Carney refused to go into details about the conversations, or explain why he didn’t immediately shut down the campaign as a non-partisan public servant working under a Conservative government. He insisted, however, that he never actively sought the job or reached out to Liberals. “I never made an outgoing phone call,” Mr. Carney said. “I never encouraged anybody to do anything.”

There is also the matter of a stay at Scott Brison’s house.

Mr. Brison, one of the party members who’s been identified as expressing interest in seeing Mr. Carney helm the Liberal Party, declined to speak about hosting the central banker and his family – or what was discussed during the stayover. “Cheverie is our home and private space, not something I really discuss,” he wrote in an e-mailed response.

Mr. Carney declined to discuss his family’s stay with Mr. Brison, a politician he’s known since the central banker was a senior bureaucrat in the Finance Department and the Liberal was public works minister. “I’m not talking about my personal life when I’m on a private vacation; full stop. So I’m not going to entertain your question.”

Stephen Gordon, Mike Moffatt and others are concerned.

Mark Carney talks fiscal cliff, Fed policy and housing bubble

By Tamsin McMahon - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 5:57 PM - 0 Comments

(Nathan Denette/CP)

In his first public speech after being named head of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of Canada, deftly dodged the question of what lesson he might take with him to Europe from his experience shielding Canada from the depths of the global recession. He did, however, give some hints about his approach and touched on a range of other issues, from what the debate over the U.S. fiscal cliff means for Canada, to how we’re not yet out of the woods when it comes to the country’s housing bubble.

Here are a few excerpts from the Q&A that followed Carney’s speech at the CFA Society in Toronto this morning:

On what lessons he plans to take from Canada to the Bank of England:

I think my comments about the Bank of England are best first delivered to the Treasury select committee given their role and we’re working right now with the committee to find a date in the new year that works for both of us.

[That said] there are experiences of crisis management that we had here in Canada. Much is made in Canada that we didn’t have bank failures and we didn’t have other issues. In part, we didn’t have those because we made tough decisions in a timely fashion…The first thing is transparency. You have to level with people on the scale of problems. It does no good to try to spin your way out of a crisis.

…I would say on monetary policy and financial stability policy writ large, I think one the strengths of the Bank of Canada is the breadth and dept of talent in the institution and, as the governor, the importance of listening to diverse points of view and synthesizing within that institutional structure either a path for monetary policy or a path financial reform for other things. Those are some of the aspects that worked here in Canada.

The last thing I would reinforce is basically the power of the flexible inflation targeting framework, which we and many others practices…In order to get the most benefit from that framework,  transparency and communications is absolutely crucial. There’s a way to use communication to potential amplify that power in extraordinary circumstances, which may be appropriate in some jurisdictions, not appropriate in other jurisdictions.

Those are general lesson, which are not necessarily directly applicable to the Bank of England.

Continue…

Mark Carney explains central bank speak

By Erica Alini - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 2:46 PM - 0 Comments

Mark Carney just spoke at the CFA Society in Toronto. The theme is “guidance,” or how central banks can try to influence investors’ expectations by indicating the likely future movements of interest rates. As the Globe’s Kevin Carmichael noted last week, Carney’s tenure at the Bank has brought about some important changes on guidance. The governor “embraced the academic argument that a little uncertainty could be good for financial stability: a healthy debate about the likely path of interest rates eliminates the risk of a one-way bet, which essentially was the case in the U.S. ahead of the financial crisis.”

Here are some interesting bits from the prepared remarks, which the governor said do not contain any new guidance about the Canadian economy:

Continue…