German business sentiment rises in June, Ifo survey finds

It is a great pleasure to have the opportunity to open this conference. You could say that it is an example of the endearing British sense of humour that we organise a conference ...

Israeli Military: Identified Missiles Launched From Iran Towards Israel (After Ceasefire Came Into Effect)

Israeli Military Spokesman: Ceasefire Begun This Morning - Military Remains Alert - Air Force Remains Ready To Remove Threats

BoE’s Greene: Underlying Activity Is Weak, The Labour Market Has Loosened Further And The Disinflationary Process Continues - I’m Worried About Both The Demand And The Supply Sides Of The Economy BoE’s Greene: I Worry About The Near-Term Profile For Inflation This Year, Which In My View Now Resembles More Of A “Plateau” Than A “Hump” - The Risk That Our Near-Term Plateau In Inflation Feeds Through Into Second Round Effects Is Skewed To The Upside Greene: A feature not a bug Many thanks for inviting me to NIESR for this speech. I have spent many hours in this building, contributing to regular discussions previously as a market participant and attending board meetings for Rebuilding Macroeconomics when it was based here. It’s lovely to be back in this setting. Social scientists like to talk about structural changes, and my speech today is no exception. I’m going to use it to explore one of the most important – and often overlooked - structural changes happening in macroeconomic policy at the moment: the shift of central bank balance sheets towards new steady states and what this means for monetary policy specifically. The size and composition of central bank balance sheets can provoke “passionate reactions” as Andrew Hauser, the former Executive Director of Markets at the Bank, once noted (Hauser, 2019). Perhaps this is not surprising given how crucial a role the central bank balance sheet plays in the functioning of our financial system and economy and how dramatically various central bank balance sheets have changed over the last decade. During the Global Financial Crisis, as rates fell to their effective lower bounds, major central banks turned to more unconventional policy tools, such as Quantitative Easing (QE), to stimulate lending and s