Seth Carpenter paper

On Tue, Sep 28, 2010 at 12:36 PM, Eileen wrote:

Did Hell freeze over and I missed it??

Seth B. Carpenter and Selva Demiralp, recently posted a discussion paper on the Federal Reserve Board’s website, titled Money, Reserves, and the Transmission of Monetary Policy: Does the Money Multiplier Exist?

The authors note that bank reserves increased dramatically since the start of the financial crisis. Reserves are up a staggering 2,173% from $47.3bn on September 10, 2008, just before the financial crisis began, to $1.1tn now. Yet M2 is up only 11.4% since September 10, 2008, and bank loans are down $140.2bn. The textbook money multiplier model predicts that money growth and bank lending should have soared along with reserves, stimulating economic activity and boosting inflation. The Fed study concluded that “if the level of reserves is expected to have an impact on the economy, it seems unlikely that a standard multiplier story will explain the effect.”

That not only repudiates the textbook money multiplier model but also raises lots of questions about the goal of the Fed’s quantitative easing policies.


The Carpenter/Demiralp study quotes former Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn saying the following about the money multiplier in a March 24, 2010 speech: http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/kohn20100324a.htm

“The huge quantity of bank reserves that were created has been seen largely as a byproduct of the purchases that would be unlikely to have a significant independent effect on financial markets and the economy. This view is not consistent with the simple models in many textbooks or the monetarist tradition in monetary policy, which emphasizes a line of causation from reserves to the money supply to economic activity and inflation. . . . We will need to watch and study this channel carefully.”

Here are more shocking revelations from the study under review: “In the absence of a multiplier, open market operations, which simply change reserve balances, do not directly affect lending behavior at the aggregate level. Put differently, if the quantity of reserves is relevant for the transmission of monetary policy, a different mechanism must be found.

Warren Mosler: Obama’s China Policy Will Destroy U.S. Jobs and Create Inflation


Warren Mosler: Obama’s China Policy Will Destroy
U.S. Jobs and Create Inflation

Noted Economist and Senate Candidate: Forcing The Yuan Up and The Dollar Down Is The Worst Possible Option For Creating U.S. Jobs


Middletown, CT. – September 28, 2010 – Warren Mosler, internationally renowned financial and job creation expert and Connecticut’s Independent Party Candidate for the US Senate lashed out today at the Obama administration’s weak dollar policy in relation to China. “The first thing forcing China to revalue its currency will do is destroy US jobs, not create them,” said Mosler. “When China causes its currency to appreciate against the dollar, thus driving the value of the dollar down, it gives Chinese workers what amounts to a pay raise which will be passed along to U.S. consumers in the form of higher prices – in other words, inflation. These higher prices mean U.S. consumers can buy less, which results in fewer American jobs.”

According to available data, the U.S. lost approximately 8 million jobs two years ago because sales fell. When sales are restored, jobs will be restored. “A restaurant, department store, or any other business doesn’t lay off staff when they are filled with customers. So, giving Chinese workers a pay raise that will kill U.S. sales, cause inflation, and cut Americans’ spending power is not the way to bring this economy back from the brink or create the American jobs we desperately need!” asserted Mosler. In contrast, Mosler’s plan to create good-paying private sector jobs features a full payroll tax (FICA) holiday. That will make sure our consumers have enough spending power to be able to buy both whatever we can produce here at home with full employment, plus whatever the rest of the world wants to sell us, just like a decade ago when unemployment was under 4%, growth was strong, inflation low, and net imports were at record levels. Additionally, Mosler is concerned that Obama’s current inflationary policy can rapidly escalate into a debilitating trade war with China. In fact, in what amounts to a dangerous, high stakes international game of chicken, China has already announced it was placing a tariff on US poultry exports in retaliation for U.S. demands for currency revaluation.

Richard Blumenthal’s lock-step position with the Obama White House on China and Linda McMahon’s conspicuous silence on this critical issue vividly show that they are simply not qualified to create the 20 million new jobs we desperately need. “If you needed heart surgery, you wouldn’t let just anyone do it. In this time of economic emergency, I am the candidate that has the necessary knowledge, experience and in-depth understanding of our economy on a nuts and bolts level to make effective policy,” said Mosler. Quite simply, now is the time to take decisive action and Warren Mosler is the only candidate in this race who is qualified for the job.

About Warren Mosler
Warren Mosler is running as an Independent. His populist economic message features: 1) a full payroll tax (FICA) holiday so that people working for a living can afford to buy the goods and services they produce. 2) $500 per capita Federal revenue distribution for the states 3) An $8/hr federally funded job to anyone willing and able to work to facilitate the transition from unemployment to private sector employment. He has also pledged never to vote for cuts in Social Security payments or benefits. Warren is a native of Manchester, Conn., where his father worked in a small insurance office and his mother was a night-shift nurse. After graduating from the University of Connecticut (BA Economics, 1971), and working on financial trading desks in NYC and Chicago, Warren started his current investment firm in 1982. For the last twenty years, Warren has also been involved in the academic community, publishing numerous journal articles, and giving conference presentations around the globe. Mosler’s new book “The 7 Deadly Innocent Frauds of Economic Policy” is a non technical guide to the actual workings of the monetary system and exposes the most commonly held misconceptions. He also founded Mosler Automotive, which builds the Mosler MT900, the world’s top performance car that also gets 30 mpg at 55 mph.