今年5月初,美聯儲(Federal Reserve)將基準利率上調0.5個百分點,試圖抑制歷史性的通貨膨脹。過去一年,美國的通貨膨脹達到40年來最快的上漲速度。
為了給過熱的經濟降溫,預計美聯儲在2023年還會進一步加息。但一名前美聯儲官員認為,美聯儲做的遠遠不夠。
美聯儲理事會的前副主席、哥倫比亞大學(Columbia University)的經濟學與國際事務教授理查德·克拉里達表示,為了降低通脹,未來一年美聯儲需要將利率至少提高到3.5%。
據《財富》雜志評論的會議記錄顯示,克拉里達于5月6日在斯坦福大學(Stanford University)胡佛研究所(Hoover Institution)召開的貨幣政策會議上說:“我認為,要想通脹率真正恢復到2%,基金利率最終需要超過限制區間,至少比預估的2.5%的名義中性利率高1個百分點。”《華爾街日報》(Wall Street Journal)此前報道了此次會議。
克拉里達表示,2021年上半年的一些跡象,讓美國人錯誤地相信經濟將恢復到新冠疫情之前的水平,通脹預期依舊符合美聯儲2%的目標。
他說:“但在2021年下半年及今年,不僅美國,包括其他許多經濟體的通脹率都大幅上漲,到了非常嚴重的地步。”
他還表示,通貨膨脹“會令人痛苦地長期持續下去”。
克拉里達指出,美聯儲針對新冠疫情最初帶來的前所未有的挑戰,采取了應對措施。
他說:“新冠疫情和2020年采取的防控措施,對美國經濟造成了自大蕭條(Great Depression)以來最嚴重的沖擊。”在美國最初執行封鎖措施期間,美國經濟遭遇重創,到2020年4月有2200萬人失業。
他提到美聯儲的兩位前主席稱:“如今,美聯儲面臨的是截然不同的挑戰,他們需要保證保羅·沃爾克和艾倫·格林斯潘經過辛苦努力才取得的物價穩定的戰果,不會被揮霍殆盡。”
最后,克拉里達表示相信美聯儲有能力應對挑戰:
他說:“但美聯儲的工具不夠犀利,任務極其復雜,而且未來需要做出艱難的權衡。”(財富中文網)
譯者:劉進龍
審校:汪皓
今年5月初,美聯儲(Federal Reserve)將基準利率上調0.5個百分點,試圖抑制歷史性的通貨膨脹。過去一年,美國的通貨膨脹達到40年來最快的上漲速度。
為了給過熱的經濟降溫,預計美聯儲在2023年還會進一步加息。但一名前美聯儲官員認為,美聯儲做的遠遠不夠。
美聯儲理事會的前副主席、哥倫比亞大學(Columbia University)的經濟學與國際事務教授理查德·克拉里達表示,為了降低通脹,未來一年美聯儲需要將利率至少提高到3.5%。
據《財富》雜志評論的會議記錄顯示,克拉里達于5月6日在斯坦福大學(Stanford University)胡佛研究所(Hoover Institution)召開的貨幣政策會議上說:“我認為,要想通脹率真正恢復到2%,基金利率最終需要超過限制區間,至少比預估的2.5%的名義中性利率高1個百分點。”《華爾街日報》(Wall Street Journal)此前報道了此次會議。
克拉里達表示,2021年上半年的一些跡象,讓美國人錯誤地相信經濟將恢復到新冠疫情之前的水平,通脹預期依舊符合美聯儲2%的目標。
他說:“但在2021年下半年及今年,不僅美國,包括其他許多經濟體的通脹率都大幅上漲,到了非常嚴重的地步。”
他還表示,通貨膨脹“會令人痛苦地長期持續下去”。
克拉里達指出,美聯儲針對新冠疫情最初帶來的前所未有的挑戰,采取了應對措施。
他說:“新冠疫情和2020年采取的防控措施,對美國經濟造成了自大蕭條(Great Depression)以來最嚴重的沖擊。”在美國最初執行封鎖措施期間,美國經濟遭遇重創,到2020年4月有2200萬人失業。
他提到美聯儲的兩位前主席稱:“如今,美聯儲面臨的是截然不同的挑戰,他們需要保證保羅·沃爾克和艾倫·格林斯潘經過辛苦努力才取得的物價穩定的戰果,不會被揮霍殆盡。”
最后,克拉里達表示相信美聯儲有能力應對挑戰:
他說:“但美聯儲的工具不夠犀利,任務極其復雜,而且未來需要做出艱難的權衡。”(財富中文網)
譯者:劉進龍
審校:汪皓
The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate in early May by half a percentage point in an attempt to rein in historic levels of inflation, which has risen more quickly over the past year than any time in the last four decades.
The Fed is expected to raise rates even more over the next year in an attempt to cool the overheated economy. But one former Fed official says that the agency needs to do more—a lot more.
Richard Clarida, former vice chair of the Federal Reserve board of governors and professor of economics and international affairs at Columbia University, says the Fed will need to increase its interest rate to at least 3.5% over the year to bring down inflation.
“The Funds rate will, I believe, ultimately need to be raised well into restrictive territory, by at least a percentage point above the estimated nominal neutral rate of 2.5%, for inflation to be credibly projected to return to 2%,” said Clarida on May 6, at a monetary policy conference at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, according to a transcript reviewed by Fortune and previously reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Clarida said that signs from the first half of 2021 falsely assured Americans a return to the economy’s pre-pandemic potential, with inflation expectations remaining in line with the Fed’s goal of 2%.
“But in the second half of 2021, and continuing into this year, there has been a surge in inflation that has been about as bad as it gets, not only in the U.S. but in many other economies around the world,” he said.
He added that inflation has been “distressingly persistent.”
In his remarks, Clarida notes that the Fed rose to the initial unprecedented challenge that the pandemic posed.
“The pandemic and the mitigation efforts put in place to contain it in 2020 delivered the most severe blow to the U.S. economy since the Great Depression,” he said, adding that the U.S. economy took a major hit during the country’s initial lockdown, and when 22 million people lost their jobs by April 2020.
“Today, the Fed faces a different challenge, that of insuring that the hard won battles under Paul Volcker and Alan Greenspan to achieve price stability are not squandered,” he said, referring to two former chairs of the Fed.
In closing, Clarida said he believes in the bank’s ability to rise to the challenge:
“But the Fed’s instruments are blunt, the mission is complex, and difficult tradeoffs lie ahead,” he said.