Nickname: Phil

Review: Dear Mr. Koo, I have a question. If the assumption today is that companies and banks in the US are more interested in debt minimization than profit maximization, then no amount of quantitative easing will help. If however the banks are keen on retaining the historical value of their troubled assets in the balance sheet to delay recognition of loss, is this considered profit maximization and will therefore benefit from the US quantitative easing? Thank you. Phil

Date reviewed: Oct 22, 2009 6:56 AM

Nickname: Bresser-Pereira

Review: Mr. Koo, professor Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira, from Fundacao Getulio Vargas, Sao Paulo, would like to contact you. Could you please send your e-mail address. Thank you in advance

Date reviewed: Apr 28, 2009 8:50 PM

Nickname: Ralph Musgrave

Review: I am baffled as to why anyone ever thought quantitative easing would have any effect. If households? desired level of saving is X thousand dollars (in cash and securities) and a central bank induces households to convert a portion of the securities to cash, what of it? Households will not spend the cash, because that would reduce their savings to below the desired level: there will be no effect on demand. An exception to the above rule would doubtless occur where banks had an excess of dodgy or poisonous assets, and this was causing banks to curtail lending even to credit worthy customers: exactly what has occurred in the US in 2008. If the central bank ?quantitatively eased? these assets, which is what Hank Paulson tried, doubtless this would have an effect.

Date reviewed: Dec 7, 2008 9:34 AM

Nickname: bob5000

Review: Mr Koo, I read your book "Balance Sheet Recession" earlier this year. In my opinion, you wrote the definitive book on the Japanese economy and its current problems. On top of that, it was highly readable and easy to understand. As a byproduct, it helped me understand both the strengths and weaknesses of generic monetary and fiscal policy, especially when each is useful and useless. It is still available from Amazon. Thanks.

Date reviewed: May 19, 2006 12:50 PM