📌 Lucas’s Economics Observation Diary

Branches of Economics

• Divided by Scale
  • Macroeconomics
    • Branch of economics dealing with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole, rather than individual markets.
  • Mesoeconomics / Mezzoeconomics
    • In-between macroeconomics and microeconomics with a focus on the intermediate level of analysis.
  • Microeconomics
    • Branch of economics that studies the behavior of individuals and firms in making decisions regarding the allocation of limited resources
• Divided by Types
  • Classical Economics
  • Behavioral Economics

Monetary Policy 货币政策

Unconventional Monetary Policy at the Zero Bound includes credit easing, quantitative easing, forward guidance, and signaling.

• QE, Quantitative Easing 量化宽松
• Credit Easing
  • Credit Easing and QE are similar, but have some difference.
• Helicopter Money,
  • Can sometimes be perceived as an alternative QE, when the economy is in a liquidity trap (when interest rates near zero and the economy remains in recession).
• QT, Quantitative Tightening, 量化紧缩
• Tapering (in economics), reduction of the quantitative easing program in the US
• Short-Term Interest Rate,
• OMOs, Open Market Operations, 公开市场操作
• Forward Guidance, 
• Credit Guidance (Broader), Window Guidance (interchangeable with the Informal Guidance)
  • Nuances between these three terminologies (to be posted)
• Reserve Requirements, 
• Exchange Requirements, 
• Collateral Policy, 
• Signalling, 

Types of Interest Rate

• Prime Rate, or Prime Lending Rate
  • LPR, Loan Prime Rate, 最优惠贷款汇率
    • Used exclusively in the mainland China, moreover, both Hong Kong and Macau do NOT use LPR, it is ONLY existed in the mainland China, in the terms of the world. Before LPR was introduced on Aug. 17, 2013, the mainland China used BLR, Benchmark Loan Rate, instead.
    • BTW, Laryngopharyngeal reflux is also LPR, or laryngopharyngeal reflux disease, LPRD
• Federal Funds Rate
  • Used in U.S.
• Repo Rate, 
• IBOR, Interbank Offered Rate
  • Libor, London Inter-Bank Offered Rate
• Bank Rate, aka. Discount Rate(in AmE), 
• Mortgage Rates
• APR, Annual Percentage Rate,
  • eAPR, effective APR
• AER, Annual Equivalent Rate, aka. the effective annual rate,
• Annualized Interest Rate

Fiscal Policy 财政政策

Notice the difference between fiscal policy and monetary policy.

Stock & Market & Financial Products

IPO, Initial Public Offerings, 首次公开募股

Financial Market 

• Primary Market, 一级市场, aka. 发行市场, 初级市场
• Secondary Market, aftermarket, follow on public offering, 二级市场, aka. 次级市场

Types of Financial Products  

• In broad terms 
  • stocks(股票), bonds(债券), options(期权), futures(期货), forwards, shares(股份), funds(基金), deposit(存款), trusts(信托), equity(股权), annuities(年金), insurance(保险), Derivatives(衍生品), 
  • Difference between forwards and futures
• More specific products
  • Snowball Products, hedge funds, 

Incompletely, there’re some financial products can be seen as zero-sum games, including futures, forwards.

Invest Strategy

• Global Asset Allocation 
• Portfolio

Indicator

Market & Business

• CPI, Consumer Price Index
• PPI, Producer Price Index 
• CCI, Consumer Confidence Index
• PMI, Purchasing Managers’ Index

Stocks

• S&P 500, Standard & Poor’s 500
• NASDAQ Composite

Government

• Nominal Anchors

Economic Situation

• Liquidity Trap
• Stagflation
• Hyperinflation
• Deflation
• Middle Income Trap
• Recession
• Fiscal Cliff
• Credit Crunch
• Balance of Payment Crisis
• Boom and Bust Cycle
• Structural Unemployment 

Apparatus / Organization

🇨🇳 PRC

PBC(officially used by PRC) / PBOC(informal) / People’s Bank of China, 中国人民银行, 人民银行, 央行, 中国中央银行

CBRC, China Banking Regulatory Commission, 中国银行业监督管理委员会, 中国银监会, authorized by the State Council, except the territories of Hong Kong and Macau

• Bank
  • ICBC, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China,
  • BOC, the Bank of China
  • ABC, the Agriculture Bank of China
  • CCB, China Construction Bank

🇺🇸 U.S.

The Federal Reserve System / the Federal Reserve / the Fed (simplified),  美联储

Clearinghouse,