Archive for June 29th, 2021

30 years of Slovenia Central Bank: Intriguing history of Solvenian money

June 29, 2021

Slovenia’s Central bank celebrated its 30th anniversary on 25 June 1991.

The central bank in this press release commemorates the anniversary and shares interesting history:

The establishment of the Slovenian central bank as an independent monetary institution was adopted together with other constitutive documents in the historic parliamentary session of 25 June 1991. For this reason, together with Slovenia itself, this year sees Banka Slovenije celebrate its 30th anniversary. In this period of time, we have materially contributed to the development of the country and have been a part of numerous significant milestones for Slovenia.

“The Banka Slovenije Act serves to put in place the foundations of the monetary system and central bank operations in the republic, whereby the decision to adopt our own monetary system and to establish an independent central bank is being fulfilled.” With these words, in the historic session of 25 June 1991, then Prime Minister Lojze Peterle explained the significance of establishing the Slovenian central bank. By establishing its own central bank, Slovenia took hold of the key levers for conducting monetary policy: providing Slovenia’s own currency, stable price levels and ensuring stability in the banking system.

The economic situation at that time was marked by some special circumstances. There was high inflation and cash and foreign currency restrictions, and the separation from the National Bank of Yugoslavia was in the process of being settled. In such circumstances, preparations for the issuing of temporary cash in the form of payment notes had begun well in advance. Paper left over from the stock used for admission tickets to the Sarajevo Olympics was used to print the notes. That is why the payment notes had the water mark of a snowflake. Slovenians could exchange Yugoslav dinars for the payment notes starting on 9 October, which was the day after the agreed three-month moratorium on implementing the adopted independence laws expired. The day before that, Banka Slovenije had ensured the supply of the necessary quantities of banknotes to financial institutions.

The central bank also released timeline of its interesting history and of its money.

 

Posted in Central Banks / Monetary Policy, Economics - macro, micro etc | Leave a Comment »

How Italy produced a large number of influential economists in last 40 years?

June 29, 2021

Enrico Nano, Ugo Panizza, Martina Viarengo in this voxeu research:

Over the last 40 years, Italy has produced a large number of influential economists. This is somewhat surprising because economics is more likely to require technical training than other social sciences and, until the 1980s, Italy did not have any formal doctoral programme. This column examines how a large scholarship program contributed to the formation of a generation of Italian economists with a focus on gender and socioeconomic status, and on their interaction with social mobility.  

Posted in Academic research & research papers, Economics - macro, micro etc, Economist | Leave a Comment »

Coal-Fired Power Plant Retirements in the U.S.

June 29, 2021

Rebecca J. Davis, J. Scott Holladay & Charles Sims in this NBER paper:

We summarize the history of U.S. coal-fired plant retirements over the last decade, describe planned future retirements, and forecast the remaining operating life for every operating coal-fired generator. We summarize the technology and location trends that are correlated with the observed retirements. We then describe a theoretical model of the retirement decision coal generator owners face. We use retirements from the last decade to quantify the relationships in the model for retired generators.

Our model predicts that three-quarters of coal generation capacity will retire in the next twenty years, with most of that retirement concentrated in the next five years. Policy has limited ability to affect retirement times. A $20 per MWh electricity subsidy extends the average life of a generator by six years. A $51 per ton carbon tax brings forward retirement dates by about two years. In all scenarios, a handful of electricity generators remain on the grid beyond our forecast horizon.

Posted in Academic research & research papers, Economics - macro, micro etc, Financial Markets/ Finance | Leave a Comment »

How lasting are the economic consequences of pandemics? 220 years of Swedish experiences

June 29, 2021

Stefan Laséen of Riksbank’s Monetary Policy Department in this paper analyses the impact of pandemics on Sweden economy in last 220 years:

In this article I use the Riksbank’s historical monetary statistics to analyse what effects pandemics have had on demographic and economic variables in Sweden since the start of the 19th century. The results show that pandemics have had negative effects on birth rates, death rates and family formation. Pandemics have also adversely affected the Swedish economy in the short term. The longer term effects are less clear. The effects on foreign trade and investment have, on the other hand, tended to be more long lasting. Going forward, this could imply that it will be important to be aware of potential protectionist tendencies, such as export restrictions and tariffs.

The COVID-19 crisis is in many respects unique, and therefore it is difficult to draw conclusions regarding the current situation on the basis of earlier pandemics. Furthermore, society has developed quite dramatically over the past 220 years with regard to knowledge, statistics, amount and spread of information, supply of media, technology and medical care. But even if one can discuss what conclusions can be drawn on the basis of earlier pandemics, the historical perspective is interesting in itself. Thanks to this, one can identify structures and mechanisms that can help today’s decision-makers and authorities to better plan for and manage future threats.

Posted in Academic research & research papers, Central Banks / Monetary Policy, Economics - macro, micro etc, Financial Markets/ Finance | Leave a Comment »

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