How money, financial systems and policy shape economic activity, and how we measure the forces beneath the surface.
The same financial shock can produce very different economic outcomes. Understanding why means looking beneath aggregate indicators at the monetary arrangements, financial institutions and policy choices that connect markets with economic activity. That connection sits at the center of my work in global macroeconomics.
Measurement is part of the question. Research on economic slack in the eurozone examines how we assess an economy's room to grow. Work on derivatives, bank loan quality and exchange rate valuation explores the financial channels through which risks and incentives take shape. Analysis of Japan adds a perspective on monetary policy and its international setting.
Together, these strands ask how the architecture of finance influences economic adjustment. This page connects academic research, institutional analysis and public discussion so readers can follow an idea across different methods, markets and moments, and return to the original evidence.
Robin Brooks · Jonathan Fortun · Jonathan Pingle / Institute of International Finance
Manufacturing surveys in June 2021 showed supply disruptions spreading across countries as longer delivery times and rising input costs prompted firms to raise prices. The analysis saw growing upside risk to its forecast of 2.6% annual core PCE inflation in the fourth quarter, already above the Federal Reserve’s March projection of 2.2%. These figures describe the outlook at publication, not realized inflation.
Robin Brooks · Jonathan Fortun · Jonathan Pingle / Institute of International Finance
Supply bottlenecks had reached producer prices, but their transmission to consumer inflation was still unfolding in May 2021. Robin Brooks, Jonathan Fortun and Jonathan Pingle expected further increases in core CPI and PCE as delayed effects emerged. They argued at the time that the Federal Reserve should accommodate this inflation bump despite a larger and more persistent supply shock.
Robin Brooks · Jonathan Fortun · Jonathan Pingle / Institute of International Finance
Severe manufacturing delays raised the question of whether supply disruptions were reaching consumer prices as economies reopened. The April 2021 comparison found evidence of firms passing costs into higher prices only in the United States. Faster vaccination and reopening were offered as a possible explanation for stronger pricing power there, rather than as an established global pattern.
Robin Brooks · Jonathan Fortun · Jonathan Pingle / Institute of International Finance
Severe delivery delays and rising manufacturing input costs challenged expectations of a quick supply chain normalization in April 2021. Robin Brooks, Jonathan Fortun and Jonathan Pingle compare the disruption with earlier crisis episodes. Although they expected reopening eventually to ease bottlenecks, their analysis warns that persistence could intensify upward pressure on US yields as economic data recovered.
Robin Brooks · Jonathan Fortun / Institute of International Finance
Strong US economic releases during the 2021 reopening reflected the reversal of the shutdown, with unusually volatile data surprises. Robin Brooks and Jonathan Fortun expected this turbulence to persist into the summer and put upward pressure on long term US bond yields. Their April assessment identified Turkey as the emerging market most affected, with spillovers also reaching Brazil and Colombia.
Fortun contrasts weaker emerging-market equity flows with China's support for overall inflows, in an analysis of Beijing's financial-opening and stability challenges.
Robin Brooks · Jonathan Fortun / Institute of International Finance
Market stress raised questions about contagion from Turkey to other emerging economies in April 2021. Robin Brooks and Jonathan Fortun compare the pressure with the 2013 taper tantrum and argue that stronger starting conditions limited wider spillovers. Their contemporary assessment also retained the lira fair value estimate, anticipating that tighter financial conditions would narrow Turkey’s external deficit.