Friday, March 15, 2013

Ralph Musgrave — Who cares if central banks make a so called “loss” when QE is unwound?

Those under the illusion that central banks can be viewed thru the lens of microeconomics (i.e. those who think a central bank can be compared to a COMMERCIAL bank or other commercial entity) are getting worried about the so called “loss” that central banks might make when QE is unwound. This Telegraph article is typical. Plus Andrea Leadsom (UK politician) also got worried about this point – see question 37 & 38 here.
In contrast, those who understand Modern Monetary Theory know better, and for the following reasons.
As Abba Lerner (founding father of MMT, according to some) put it (p.39 here):
“…government fiscal policy, its spending and taxing, its borrowing and repayment of loans, its issue of new money and its withdrawal of money, shall all be undertaken with an eye only the RESULTS of those actions on the economy and not to any established traditional doctrine about what is sound or unsound.”
Ralphonomics
Who cares if central banks make a so called “loss” when QE is unwound?
Ralph Musgrave

2 comments:

miller B said...

also it need not be unwound at all

The Rombach Report said...

Makes no difference to me, but I reckon the member banks who have been earning dividends as their cut from the QE related interest earned by the Fed might protest.