HEADLINE: Lessons from the Swiss National Bank: Risk-Taking, Exchange Rates, and Fiscal Responsibility GUEST NAME: John Cochrane SUMMARY: Economist John Cochrane analyzes the Swiss National Bank (SNB), noting it differs greatly from the US Federal Reserve
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 16 October 2025
⏱️ 11 minutes
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Summary
1890 SWISS
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| 0:24.0 | This is CBS, I on the world. I'm John Batchel. I welcome my colleague John Cochran. |
| 0:29.9 | He is at the Hoover Institution in Stanford campus. He's just back from Switzerland, however, |
| 0:35.4 | and his blog, the Substack blog, Grumpy Economist, is a lesson in |
| 0:40.6 | Swiss risk-taking, if I understand correctly. The Swiss franc is highly desirable by |
| 0:47.8 | everyone in the world. But that's not the risk. The risk is the Swiss Central Bank, |
| 0:53.1 | which actually invests in equities along with other things. I'm not the risk. The risk is the Swiss Central Bank, which actually invests in equities along |
| 0:57.0 | with other things. I didn't know central banks did such a thing. Stocks go up and down. John, |
| 1:03.2 | a very good evening to you. The Swiss Central Bank is very different animal from the Federal Reserve |
| 1:10.8 | Bank that I've learned to watch in America. |
| 1:14.6 | Is that generally accepted by you, Cognacente, you economists, these are different creatures? |
| 1:19.7 | Good evening to you. |
| 1:21.3 | Good evening, yes. Central banks are different around the world. |
| 1:24.8 | They do very different things. |
| 1:26.1 | And as we think about the Fed and its independence |
| 1:28.7 | and what it should do, I think it's important to travel around a bit and see how things are |
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