The week ahead in central banking
Our week ahead email helps you track the most important events in central banking. To see all of our emails and alerts visit www.ft.com/nbe
Bernanke testimony
Fed chairman Ben Bernanke is due to speak on the economic outlook and federal budget situation on Thursday. He’s up in front of the House Committee on the Budget at 10.00 local time (15.00 GMT) on Thursday.
Plosser on Communications
Charles Plosser of the Philadelphia Fed gave a noteworthy speech today on how the US central bank might improve its communication policies.
Mr Plosser has always been interesting on this subject — he is a long time advocate for a defined Fed inflation objective — but he is especially worth paying attention to now as a member of the Fed subcommittee that is looking at communications.
Mr Plosser is the obvious ‘hawk’ on that committee — the other members are vice chair Janet Yellen, governor Sarah Bloom Raskin, and Chicago Fed president Charles Evans — and its clear that there is a lot of common ground on inflation objectives and on providing more information about the forward path of policy.
The ugly truth: monetary policy’s limits
Two of the three FOMC dissenters on Wednesday said why they broke ranks at last week’s meeting.
Aside from their view that the conditional commitment to keep rates on hold until 2013 looked suspiciously like the Fed was trying to buoy financial markets, there was another common strand to their discord.
Both Mr Fisher and Mr Plosser claimed monetary policy was limited in what it could do to spur growth. This is becoming a popular argument among senior central bankers.
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Chris Giles has been the economics editor of the Financial Times since 2004. Based in London, he writes about international economic trends and the British economy. Before reporting economics for the Financial Times, he wrote editorials for the paper, reported for the BBC, worked as a regulator of the broadcasting industry and undertook research for the Institute for Fiscal Studies. RSS
Ralph Atkins, Frankfurt bureau chief, has been writing about European economics and politics for the Financial Times for more than 20 years following an economics degree from Cambridge. He has been watching the European Central Bank and eurozone economies since 2004. He has previously worked in London, Bonn, Berlin, Jerusalem and Brussels. RSS
Robin Harding is the FT's US economics editor, based in Washington. Prior to this, he was based in Tokyo, covering the Bank of Japan and Japan's technology sector, and in London as an economics leader writer. Robin studied economics at Cambridge and has a masters in economics from Hitotsubashi University, where he was a Monbusho scholar. Before joining the FT, Robin worked in asset management and banking. RSS
Claire Jones is Money Supply economics team writer, based in London. Before joining the Financial Times, she was the editor of the Central Banking journal and CentralBanking.com. Claire studied philosophy and economics at the London School of Economics. RSS
James Politi is US economics and trade correspondent for the Financial Times, based in Washington DC. He joined the Washington bureau in January 2008 following four and a half years as US deals correspondent covering M&A and private equity. James Politi joined the FT in London in 2000 with an MSc at the London School of Economics, and undergraduate degrees from Georgetown University and the University of Florence. RSS
