On 4th December, the UK parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) published a report on the production and distribution of cash. The press release was headlined ‘PAC urges Bank of England to investigate “missing” £50 billion of sterling notes’. This emphasis was unhelpful and drew attention away from the real problems. The media coverage did at … Continue reading Access to cash is a far bigger problem than the ‘missing’ £50 billion
Category: Monetary policy
Why fiscal responsibility still matters
I’m relatively relaxed about the fiscal costs of Covid: UK government borrowing will drop sharply as the economy recovers; the increase in the debt burden is manageable; and there’s no need to ‘pay for Covid’ with ‘austerity’ of any kind. (See my earlier blog explaining How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Debt.) … Continue reading Why fiscal responsibility still matters
How much should we worry about UK government debt?
Another month, another set of scary numbers on the public finances: the UK government borrowed an additional £36 billion in September and total public debt rose to £2,060 billion, or around 103.5% of national income (GDP). But there is still no need to panic. For a start, the figures are entirely as expected. If anything, … Continue reading How much should we worry about UK government debt?
Is there any case for negative interest rates?
It’s hard to add much to the debate over whether or not the Bank of England (BoE) should cut its key interest rate, currently just 0.1%, below zero. The case against negative interest rates has been well made by David Smith, Liam Halligan and Peter Warburton, among many others, including MPC veterans such as Andrew … Continue reading Is there any case for negative interest rates?
Plain-speaking Economics 