Recently, there has been renewed attention on the natural rate of interest—often referred to as “r-star”—and whether it has risen from the historically low levels that prevailed before the COVID-19 pandemic. The natural interest rate is the real (inflation-adjusted) interest rate expected to prevail when supply and demand in the economy are in balance and inflation is stable. Some commentators claim that the prior decline in r‑star has reversed, pointing to the recent rise in future...| Liberty Street Economics
President Trump has made no secret of his dislike for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, repeatedly using sharp, disparaging nicknames such as “Mr. Too Late,” “Numbskull,” and “Knucklehead,” and even branding him “grossly incompetent.” His irritation stems from the Fed’s refusal to heed his calls for US interest rates to be cut to euro-area levels. Yet Trump overlooks a crucial point: US rates have long been higher than those in the euro area because of fundamentally diffe...| Rangvid’s Blog