Political central bankers, ancient sociology, markups & the Asian tourism slump
Great links, images and reading from Chartbook Newsletter by Adam Tooze
Kiripi Katembo Siku, “Un regard” series (2009).
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How independent are independent central banks?
Nice Voxeu paper by Ioannidu, Kokas, Lambert & Michaelides
It is natural to expect that if the original goal of improving de jure central bank independence were to reduce political interference, de jure independence should be negatively correlated with politically motivated appointments. Therefore, if the stated goal is to make the central bank more politically independent, then we should expect less politically motivated governor appointments so that de jure independence more convincingly becomes de facto independence. This intuition suggests that the correlation between metrics of de jure independence and more independent governor appointments should be positive. However, a positive correlation is not the only possible outcome. Political processes have a status quo bias, either because political habits are hard to change or because laws are very hard to reverse. Politicians used to appoint close allies at the central bank might look for alternative ways to circumvent the enacted central bank independence legislation, especially when reversing such legislation is difficult. Therefore, the correlation between de jure independence and more independent governor appointments may disappear, or even turn negative, if politicians actively seek to reverse the legal reforms by appointing central bank governors with close ties to the government … we hand-collect systematic information on 316 central bank governor appointments in 57 countries between 1985 and 2020.
… and conclude that de jure indicators of independence (the colored lines) diverge dramatically from indicators of de facto independence.
Kiripi Katembo Siku, “Un regard” series (2009).
Katembo Siku was the founder of the Yango Biennale, which is based in Kinsasha, Congo, as well as the photo and video artist collective Yabela, and the film production company Mototu. Best known for his photographs depicting everyday life in Africa as reflected in puddles of water, Katembo Siku’s work had been shown at the Venice Biennale, the Berlin International Film Festival (aka the Berlinale), the New York Contemporary Art Biennial, Rencontres de Bamako, and Rencontres d’Arles. “I hold in my hands a tool capable of showing what some refuse to consider as the appalling management of the urban environment,” he wrote about his acclaimed 2009 series “Un regard.” '“Photography also provides a way of seeing beyond reflection as it opens up a poetic window on another world, the world in which I live,” he continued. “I want each image to tell of the children born here who have to grow up surrounded by pools of water, and of the families who survive while others leave to live in exile.” Kiripi Katembo Siku died of cerebral malaria on August 5 2015. He was only 36 years old.
Source: Artnet
Did markups contribute to inflation?
Andrew Glover, José Mustre-del-Río, and Alice von Ende-Becker in a Kansas City Fed paper
present evidence that markup growth was a major contributor to inflation in 2021. Specifically, markups grew by 3.4 percent over the year, whereas inflation, as measured by the price index for Personal Consumption Expenditures, was 5.8 percent, suggesting that markups could account for more than half of 2021 inflation. However, the timing and cross-industry patterns of markup growth are more consistent with firms raising prices in anticipation of future cost increases, rather than an increase in monopoly power or higher demand. … The decline in markups during the first half of 2022—even as inflation remained high—is consistent with firms having raised markups during 2021 in anticipation of future cost pressures. Furthermore, the growth in markups was similar across industries with very different relative demand and inflation rates in 2021, which is also consistent with an aggregate increase in expected future marginal costs. We conclude that an increase in markups likely provides a signal that price setters expect persistent increases in their future costs of production.
How anticipatory cash transfers cushion the impact of disaster
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How sociology aged
From a large sample of syllabi it emerges that: “instructors with more recent doctorates were more likely to teach more recent material. Authors born since 1930 comprised 17 percent of the references in syllabi taught by instructors who received their doctorate before 2000, on average. Among instructors who received their doctorates in the past dozen years, this rate rose to 28 percent.”
Source: Charles Kurzman, ASATheory
Kiripi Katembo Siku, “Un regard” series (2009)
Nigeria’s railway system under attack
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Tamil Nadu is the hub of factory work by Indian women
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How long will it take for Asia’s tourist hubs to bounce back?
Source: FT
“Subir, Un regard” (2011), Lightjet Print, 60 x 90 cm (Collection of the artist© Kiripi Katembo / Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris and Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain press service)