The second episode focuses on non-financial companies. As well as having a considerable impact on their short-term (cash) and long-term assets (imperative of aligning their operational model with new requirements in terms of supply chain resilience), the Covid-19 crisis has obliged businesses to increase their indebtedness. This confronts them with a dilemma whether to strengthen their balance sheet by paying back debt or to maintain a high degree of leverage an invest. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

In the first episode, William De Vijlder takes a look at households’ balance sheets by considering how assets and liabilities are influenced by the pandemic. We will also see how the loss of human capital due to the deterioration of the labour market plays a key role in the post-pandemic economic environment. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

In the third podcast, William De Vijlder shows how a central bank’s persistently accommodating monetary policy to bring inflation in line with the target can have a negative impact over the long term, threatening both growth and financial stability. In case of a crisis, central banks no longer have much room to intervene, since they have used up their manoeuvring room in the pursuit of their inflation target. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

How to strike the right balance between inflation and financial stability has been a source of debate for decades. In this second podcast, William De Vijlder shows how the central banks give priority to inflation targets over financial stability. He uses a few examples to illustrate how central banks will opt to hold a steady course even when confronted with the risk of instability, which is often caused by financial market turmoil. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

In this podcast, we look at central banks policy objectives, which sometimes differ. The ECB’s top priority is to meet its inflation target, whereas the Fed is targeting both inflation and full employment. These objectives raise several questions: how can we measure inflation and full employment? How do central banks set their targets? And what instruments can be used to attain them? We will also see how central banks must deal with a constantly changing economic environment. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

In this last episode, William De VIjlder will show us how negative rates can have an unfavourable impact on financial income and notably retirement savings capital. Other questions arise: are these negative rates causing an increase in households’ savings rate and is this increase to last? And if so, to what extent can the monetary policy be affected? Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

How negative rates can impact households and their savings? In this second part, we will see with William De Vijlder that there is no easy answer to this question given the heterogeneity of households and assets. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

In the first episode of this podcast, William De Vijlder analyses the causes of negative rates while explaining how they can brought about the “paradox of thrift”. What does this concept cover? And how could negative rates foster the emergence of such a paradox? Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

What is the position of central banks/organizations such as BIS (Bank for International Settlements), ECB (European Central Bank), the Fed (Federal Reserve) and the Bank of Japan on the issue of financial stability? In this last episode, William De Vijlder will focus on the Bank of Japan which has been conducting a policy of low interest rates for 20 years. Learning about the impact that such long-term policy has had on the Japanese economic agents is particularly relevant in our current low-rate environment. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

2008 crisis was a major financial crisis but it was far from unique. William De Vijlder gives an account of some of the most significant economic crises with a particular focus on the 20th century. He shows how central banks tried to adjust to economic circumstances and fight financial instability. It is to be noted that financial stability has been one of the main concerns of central banks since the 2000s. The 2008 financial crisis reinforced the ambition of stability with notably the set-up of international organisations such as the FSB (Financial Stability Board) in 2009. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.