Central Banking 101: the EONIA heartbeat | 178 comments (178 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Arcane though it may be (none / 0)

If this series of diaries is as good as I expect (not that I am any judge of economic theory or practice), I suggest you think about it also in terms of a report that could be sent to those who are to be obeyed. A sort of primer.

This may be a project that ET could work on?

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Feb 26th, 2011 at 04:19:27 PM EST

Re: Arcane though it may be (none / 0)

Is it sufficiently understandable, in your opinion?

So, in what may be my last act of "advising", I'll advise you to cut the jargon. -- My old PhD advisor, to me, 26/2/11

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Feb 26th, 2011 at 04:23:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Arcane though it may be (none / 1)

It is understandable (to me) in the context of ET. I've been reading the different views for some years now. But I am not clear that this context is evident to a reader outside. So You maybe have to back up a couple of steps.

But I do think you would be doing a great service to European society if this is fine tuned for an audience who will know the basic terms, but may not be inspired by the vital arcane bits. So I think you have to draw them into the argument.

It reminds of Richard Feyman's need to hear an example of a theory to see whether it worked in a particular 'instance'.

And if you want to show patterns, then graphics can be more helpful than arrays.

I don't think you can avoid a certain element of the arcane, (It's a tricky subject) but it would help if you had sub-heads to guide the reader through the argument.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Feb 26th, 2011 at 04:47:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Arcane though it may be (none / 0)

I thought I was starting from the very beginning. Can you point out specific places where the language or the argument is not clear?

I'll break up into subheadings.

So, in what may be my last act of "advising", I'll advise you to cut the jargon. -- My old PhD advisor, to me, 26/2/11

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Feb 26th, 2011 at 04:50:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Arcane though it may be (none / 1)

My advice would be to go ahead with the series, addressing it to ET. Then we can see how best to improve it.

What people (generally, democratically) need is an alternative ABC of finance. It affects all of us, few understand. I think it's worth doing. But it would be a different effort if you are trying to influence the ECB.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Feb 26th, 2011 at 05:02:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Arcane though it may be (none / 0)

I'm not trying to influence the ECB. Last week's column is an example of what someone like Wolfgang Münchau finds "terrific" while a number of ETers claim it's over their head. That was maybe written to influence expert opinion. This is to actually explain what the heck I'm talking about.

Being blunt, I have to admit this is as much as I can "dumb it down" so if it has to be taken further it can't be me to do it. Not to compare myself with Feynman, but his "Lectures" aren't exactly easy reading nor apparently an effective textbook.

So, in what may be my last act of "advising", I'll advise you to cut the jargon. -- My old PhD advisor, to me, 26/2/11

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Feb 26th, 2011 at 05:10:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Arcane though it may be (4.00 / 5)

Three elements to dumbing down:

Defining entities and players
Defining relationships
Defining a simple human-readable take-away conclusion for people who can't follow the rest

The problem with the original was that it was impossible to follow unless you already knew what EONIA was, why it matters, and to whom. And there was no take-away.

Someone like Munchau would know the background. Most people wouldn't.

I think this version does a very readable job of explaining the background.

My only thought about the take-away is that it would be interesting to see if something similar is happening in the US.

If it is, you have the basis of a very viable news story, and I'd consider pitching it to the FT.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Sat Feb 26th, 2011 at 06:18:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Arcane though it may be (none / 1)

Agreed. But I think all communication with a non-captive audience needs a preamble beyond the standard whowhatwhenwhereandhow. What is needed is a stated benefit or reason for people to exercise their brains and read the piece. A context that applies to their lives.

Basically the conclusion, the takeaway, needs to be foreshadowed.

The reason why financial crime has proliferated and now skews the economies of the W*stern world, is that most, even intelligent, people (including journalists, although intelligent journalist may be an oxymoron) accept the obfuscation of the Lords of Profit that finance is very very complicated, and that only the elite understands it, and for managing this 'complexity', they deserve all the treasure they amass. Bullshit.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sun Feb 27th, 2011 at 04:58:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Arcane though it may be (none / 1)

I don't have a takeaway - this is research.

So, in what may be my last act of "advising", I'll advise you to cut the jargon. -- My old PhD advisor, to me, 26/2/11

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Feb 27th, 2011 at 05:15:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Arcane though it may be (4.00 / 2)

And as such it is clear enough for the interested to follow and for the knowledgeable to discuss. The takeaway comes later when the summary for policymakers is written, but that comes after the research.

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se

by A swedish kind of death on Sun Feb 27th, 2011 at 07:08:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Arcane though it may be (none / 1)

So far we still have two outstanding puzzles. One, how did the ECB manage to stabilize the interbank market in mid-2009, and what happened in mid-2010 to break that; and two, why did the interbank rate decouple from the policy rate.

So, in what may be my last act of "advising", I'll advise you to cut the jargon. -- My old PhD advisor, to me, 26/2/11

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Feb 27th, 2011 at 07:17:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Arcane though it may be (none / 0)

It is understandable (to me) in the context of ET.

Apparantly last week's piece was not (to most). Is this an improvement?

So, in what may be my last act of "advising", I'll advise you to cut the jargon. -- My old PhD advisor, to me, 26/2/11

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Feb 26th, 2011 at 04:51:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Arcane though it may be (none / 0)

I find the first part quite lucid and from the chart of EONIA since the inception of the Eruo it is sufficiently meaty that I need to chew on it a while longer before I can say, but the first part is very informative and at a good level.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Sat Feb 26th, 2011 at 04:59:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Arcane though it may be (none / 0)

Unfortunately, I am in the midst of some volunteer work and cannot now devote the attention I would like to this diary.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Sat Feb 26th, 2011 at 05:01:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Arcane though it may be (none / 0)

That's because the meaty part is a mixture of speculation and explanation, and not very well written at that. I'm thinking of changing it.

So, in what may be my last act of "advising", I'll advise you to cut the jargon. -- My old PhD advisor, to me, 26/2/11

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Feb 26th, 2011 at 05:13:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Arcane though it may be (none / 0)

Be that as it may, after having the time to read the whole diary again and to go over the last part twice I believe I understand what you have said. Now, on to the rest of the comment thread.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Mon Feb 28th, 2011 at 09:47:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Arcane though it may be (none / 0)

You have read a much improved version already.

So, in what may be my last act of "advising", I'll advise you to cut the jargon. -- My old PhD advisor, to me, 26/2/11

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Mar 1st, 2011 at 04:15:10 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Arcane though it may be (none / 1)

I followed all of it. I am really not a banker. :)

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sun Feb 27th, 2011 at 06:35:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Arcane though it may be (none / 0)

But do you play one on TV?

So, in what may be my last act of "advising", I'll advise you to cut the jargon. -- My old PhD advisor, to me, 26/2/11

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Feb 27th, 2011 at 07:00:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Arcane though it may be (none / 0)

On TV I'm a rockstar. Well, air guitar champion. Well, not really on TV... :{

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sun Feb 27th, 2011 at 08:00:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Central Banking 101: the EONIA heartbeat | 178 comments (178 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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