Central Banking in Turbulent Times

Tuomas Valimaki
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://textbookfull.com/product/central-banking-in-turbulent-times-tuomas-valimaki/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Strategic Leadership for Turbulent Times 1st Edition

Mark Kriger

https://textbookfull.com/product/strategic-leadership-for-
turbulent-times-1st-edition-mark-kriger/

Chinese FDI in the EU and the US: Simple Rules for

Turbulent Times Tim Wenniges

https://textbookfull.com/product/chinese-fdi-in-the-eu-and-the-
us-simple-rules-for-turbulent-times-tim-wenniges/

The Chief the life and turbulent times of Chief Justice

John Roberts First Edition Biskupic

https://textbookfull.com/product/the-chief-the-life-and-
turbulent-times-of-chief-justice-john-roberts-first-edition-
biskupic/

Controlling Credit Central Banking and the Planned

Economy in Postwar France 1948 1973 Eric Monnet

https://textbookfull.com/product/controlling-credit-central-
banking-and-the-planned-economy-in-postwar-france-1948-1973-eric-
monnet/
Central Banking in a Post Pandemic World Challenges
Opportunities and Dilemmas 1st Edition Mustafa Yagci

https://textbookfull.com/product/central-banking-in-a-post-
pandemic-world-challenges-opportunities-and-dilemmas-1st-edition-
mustafa-yagci/

The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Central Banking

David G. Mayes

https://textbookfull.com/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-the-
economics-of-central-banking-david-g-mayes/

The Bitcoin Standard The Decentralized Alternative to

Central Banking 1st Edition Ammous

https://textbookfull.com/product/the-bitcoin-standard-the-
decentralized-alternative-to-central-banking-1st-edition-ammous/

Political Communication and European Parliamentary

Elections in Times of Crisis: Perspectives from Central
and South-Eastern Europe 1st Edition Ruxandra Boicu

https://textbookfull.com/product/political-communication-and-
european-parliamentary-elections-in-times-of-crisis-perspectives-
from-central-and-south-eastern-europe-1st-edition-ruxandra-boicu/

The Japanese Central Banking System Compared with Its

European and American Counterparts A New Institutional
Economics Approach Yoshiharu Oritani

https://textbookfull.com/product/the-japanese-central-banking-
system-compared-with-its-european-and-american-counterparts-a-
new-institutional-economics-approach-yoshiharu-oritani/
Central Banking in Turbulent Times
Central Banking in
Turbulent Times

Francesco Papadia with Tuomas Valimaki

OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,

United Kingdom
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
lt furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of
Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries
© Francesco Papadia and Tuomas Valimaki 2018
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted
First Edition published in 2018
Impression: 1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics
rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017952243
ISBN 978-0--19-880619-6
Printed and bound by
CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and
for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials
contained in any third party website referenced in this work.
Foreword

This is a classic central banking book. It is written by two authors who have
been senior and highly experienced central bankers. Francesco Papadia was
Director General for Market Operations at the European Central Bank (ECB)
during the critical years of the Great Financial Crisis (GFC), and played a
central role in managing the ECB's response to it. Tuomas Valimaki is Chief
Economist at the Bank of Finland and a member of the ECB's Monetary Policy
Committee.
The book is about central banking in recent decades, primarily about the
roles and actions of the two main central banks, the ECB and the Federal
Reserve System of the USA (the Fed). Chapter 1 recounts how the consensus
view on the appropriate role of such central banks developed during the
course of the Great Moderation (1992-2007), that is, that central banks should
use a single instrument, the official short-term interest rate, to control a single
objective, price stability, defined as an inflation target. In this process it was,
incorrectly, assumed that the achievement of overall macroeconomic stabil-
ity, and the self-interest of those involved in banking and financial markets,
would quasi-automatically help to ensure financial stability also. So the finan-
cial stability aspects of central banking became diminished.
When the crisis first erupted in 2007 /2008, central banks also found that
their ability to achieve their primary task of maintaining price stability via
changes in the official short rate became compromised. As money markets
became dysfunctional, and everyone, including bankers, began to hoard
liquidity, the standard means of controlling the overnight interest rate
became less reliable, spreads between official rates and market rates widened
abruptly, and soon, by early 2008, official short-term rates began to hit the
zero lower bound (ZLB). Chapter 2, the main segment of the book, is about
the onset of such problems, and how the two key central banks, the ECB and
the Fed, responded to, and eventually overcame, such problems and difficul-
ties, largely by the use of balance sheet adjustments and quantitative easing
(QE). This provides a truly authoritative account of the main actions of these
two central banks during the GFC, as might be expected since Papadia played
such a central role in this exercise at the ECB. This key, and lengthy, chapter
Foreword

will be a precious source about central bank actions in the GFC for scholars
for decades to come.
The experience of the GFC means that central banks are now saddled with
two objectives: financial stability as well as price stability. The third, final,
and shortest chapter, Chapter 3, is primarily about how to handle this role
expansion. The authors briefly consider whether financial stability could be
delegated to another authority, but, rightly, dismiss this, given the centrality
of central bank liquidity provision in crises.
If one has two objectives, ideally one should have two instruments, in order
to hit such objectives exactly, as in the Tinbergen principle. Chapter 3 is largely
about the question whether the new concept of using macro-prudential meas-
ures can provide such a second instrument. The authors are doubtful, since
such macro-prudential measures are relatively new, not fully tried, and uncer-
tain in effect. If they do not work well enough, the central bank could be left
with a dilemma, a potential trade-off. In such cases, could the central bank seek
political guidance? But would that be consistent with central bank independ-
ence? Perhaps fortunately, we do not know what the future will bring, so we,
and central bankers, are left with more than enough unanswered questions.
This is a book by central bank experts, about central bank policy actions,
and it will be eagerly read by members of the central bank fraternity around
the world. But the audience of those who will profit by, and enjoy, reading this
book goes much wider. It will include all those interested in the causes,
conduct, and consequences of the GFC; those studying money and banking;
those in financial markets and institutions caught up in the GFC; and those
who want to make sense of recent financial developments.
Charles Goodhart

vi
Preface

This book has been written by two central bank insiders. Indeed, we have spent
practically all our professional lives in a central bank. Nevertheless, when writing
this book, we have tried to move beyond our insider perspective. Or, rather, we
have endeavoured to look again at the information we have accumulated over
our long years in central banks from a new perspective, seeking to exploit our
depth of knowledge, whilst avoiding the limitations implicit in any specific
professional experience. In order to achieve this new perspective, we make
selective use of the available economic literature. References to this literature
are used only as long as they help to better understand the economic develop-
ments with which we deal in this book: the analytical apparatus serves our
narrative, not vice versa.
During the Great Recession, which started in August 2007 and entered its
most acute phase in September 2008 with the failure of Lehman Brothers, we
worked at the border between top decision-makers and markets. Our job was
to provide options to policymakers, to design the various programmes, and to
carry them out in the trenches. This put us at the centre of it all, close to
decisions, but also on the front line, implementing actions, often taken in
emergency situations, and monitoring how they affected financial markets
and, most importantly, the real economy.
This experience has been in many ways exhilarating: we found ourselves
in the middle of historic events, in institutions that were at the forefront of
understanding the unfolding crisis and limiting its damages. The ensuing
choices had critical repercussions, beyond the mere economic sphere, on the
welfare of hundreds of millions of individuals. The catastrophic experience of
the 1930s-when central banks failed to adequately fight the Great Depres-
sion and the debt crisis-forced central banks to be bold and act swiftly. They
were compelled to look beyond the well-trodden paths they had followed
before the crisis. There were also reasons, however, to be afraid, or at least
conscious, of the risk of making serious mistakes. Critical decisions, not written
in any monetary policy textbook, were swiftly made. In fact, many central
Preface

banks pursued actions that would have been unthinkable before the crisis but
would eventually find their ways into textbooks. 1
Numerous actions taken by central banks would have previously been
considered extreme and even potentially dangerous. There were no orienta-
tion tools available, no maps to guide us: we were in terra incognita. Blanchard
(in Blanchard et al. 2016, p. 8) summarized what happened in an apt way:
'Central banks have experimented with and researchers have explored mon-
etary policy, often in that order.' At the same time, we felt that society was
placing an outsized burden on our institutions. Problems were dealt with as
they arose, day by day, sometimes hour by hour. Still, we sensed we were
working in the tradition of institutions adapting to historical developments,
asked to serve society by using, in the best possible ways, the important tools
and resources entrusted to them.
Frequent, rapid, and frank contacts and exchanges with market participants
and central bankers in other jurisdictions were critical. These information
channels helped us, and the institutions in which we served, to make deci-
sions and to avoid being paralyzed by doubt. Market participants presented
us with problems that went beyond their capacity to solve. In return, they
helped us understand what was happening and find new solutions for vari-
ous emergencies. With central bankers in other jurisdictions, we shared
experiences about the problems facing us and, together, we looked for solu-
tions, often requiring joint actions. The relationship was particularly close
with the Fed, which had a much longer experience than the ECB as a central
bank with a global influence. This, together with the fact that the Great
Recession developed in two phases-the first with an epicentre in the United
States and the second with an epicentre in the euro-area-explains why this
book is concentrated on the experience of these two central banks. However,
at times, we extend our analyses to include central banks in other advanced
economies. Although this book does not look at the experience of emerging
economies, a relevant observation is that the tools that appeared totally
unconventional for central banks in advanced economies were instead famil-
iar in the experience of emerging economies. This is not surprising, because
the disturbed functioning of markets in advanced countries during the Great

1 The sense of being surprised by one's own actions in central banks during the Great Recession

was analogous to that described in 1831 by the Bank of England Member Jeremiah Harman in the
Lords' Committee, quoted by Bindseil (2004): 'We lent ... by every possible means, and in modes
that we never had adopted before, we took in stock of security, we purchased Exchequer bills, we
made advances on Exchequer bills, we not only discounted outright, but we made advances on
deposits of bills to an immense amount; in short by every possible means consistent with the safety
of the Bank; seeing the dreadful state in which the public were, we rendered every assistance in our
power.' The same sense of having to go well beyond normal practices is well presented in
chapter 18 in the memoirs of Ben Bemanke (2015a) 'For much of the panic, the Fed alone, with
its chewing gum and bailing wire, bore the burden of battling the crisis. This included preventing
the failure of systematically important institutions.'

viii
 Preface

Recession had some similarities with the functioning of less mature markets
in emerging economies.
Our book is not an historical account of the Great Recession, or of any time
before it for that matter. A number of very good books cover this area.2 Our
purpose is to show how the concepts and practicalities of central banks
changed with the Great Recession and what conjectures we can make about
their future developments.

2 See, among others, Pisani-Ferry (2014); Brunnerrneier, James, and Landau (2016); Bastasin
(2015).

ix
Acknowledgements

We warmly thank the many people who helped us with the preparation
of this book. 3
For the part of the book written by Francesco Papadia, Alessandra Marcelletti,
Madalina Norocea, Piero Esposito, and Pia Hilttl efficiently prepared the vast
empirical material presented. Christophe Beuve and Deborah Perelmuter gave
useful advice on some issues relating to the Federal Reserve of the United States
(Fed), with which he was less familiar than the European Central Bank (ECB).
Ariana Gilbert-Mongelli revised the English and provided numerous sugges-
tions regarding presentation. Carina Worner revised the typographical layout
and checked the references. For the part written by Tuomas Valimaki, Jarmo
Kontulainen provided several useful comments, and Gregory Moore revised the
English as well as contributing to the presentation.
Claudio Borio, Fabrizio Cacciafesta, Andrea Enria, Ivo Maes, Giangiacomo
Nardozzi, and Andre Sapir were very generous with their comments. Patricia
Mosser, Klaus Regling, Rolf Strauch, Guntram Wolff, Zsolt Darvas, Marcello
Messori, and Franco Passacantando commented on various versions of the
book. The Directorate General for Financial Stability of the ECB, led by Sergio
Nicoletti Altirnari, allowed us to use data published in the Financial Stability
Review (FSR) of the ECB.
Presentations at the School of European Political Economy at Libera Univer-
sita Internazionale degli Studi Sociali (LUISS), the National Bank of Belgium, the
Bruegel Institute, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Waseda University in
Tokyo, and the ECB helped in developing the reasoning presented in the book,
in some cases identifying weak spots in its development. Lectures at Politecnico
di Milano, Scuola Sant'Anna of the University of Pisa, the Goethe University in
Frankfurt, and LUISS in Rome allowed both substance and form to be honed.

3 Tuomas Valimaki wrote Section 2.1.4. Francesco Papadia wrote the rest of the main text. The

authors of the boxes and appendices are indicated in the boxes and appendices. The different
authors are exclusively responsible for the content of their writings.
Contents

List ofFigures xv
List of Tables xxi
List of Boxes xxiii
List of Contributors xxv

Introduction 1
1. Central Banking before the Great Recession 9
1.1 Changing Nature and Objectives of Central Banks 9
1.2 Dominant Central Bank Model before the Crisis 21
1.2.1 Inflation Targeting 33
1.2.2 The Neo-Wicksellian Approach 40
1.2.3 Central Bank Reaction Functions and the Taylor Rule 52
1.2.4 The Corridor Approach 56
1.3 The Unsettled Issue of Financial Stability 64
1.4 Planting the Seeds of the Great Recession: Macroeconomic,
Regulatory, Supervisory, and Intellectual Failings 76
1.4.1 The Great Moderation 76
1.4.2 Macroeconomic Failings 83
1.4.3 Regulatory and Supervisory Failings 102
1.4.4 Intellectual Failings 105

2. Central Banking during the Great Recession 109

2.1 Monetary Policy 109
2.1.1 Consequences of the Great Recession 109
2.1.2 Central Bank Action and Communication 126
2.1.3 Global Central Bank Collaboration 151
2.1.4 Assessment 159
2.2 Financial Stability 204
2.2.1 Consequences of the Great Recession 204
2.2.2 Central Bank Action and Communication 226
2.2.3 Assessment 241
3. Central Banking after the Great Recession 248
3.1 Hits to the Pre-Crisis Central Bank Model 248
3.2 Was the Pre-Great Recession Central Banking Model]eopardized? 256
3.3 Strategic and Operational Issues 259
Contents

3.4 Central Banks in a New Regulatory and Supervisory Landscape 267

3.5 How Wide Will the Scope of Responsibilities of Central
Banks Be? 271
3.6 Possible Adaptations to the Central Banking Model 277

Appendix 1 Tightening with Macro-Prudential Tools while Easing

with Interest Rates (Francesco Papadia) 285
Appendix 2 Quantifying Survey-Based Inflation Expectations
(Pia Hilttl) 287
Bibliography 293
Index 311

xiv
List of Figures

1.1 Consumer Price Levels in Italy, the UK, Germany, and the USA
(1861-2016) 14
1.2 Size of the Central Bank Balance Sheets, as Percentage of each Country's
GDP (1900-2012) 15
1.3 Long-Term Interest Rates in Italy, the UK, Germany, and the USA
(1861-2016) 16
1.4 Multi-Secular Behaviour of Long-Term Interest Rates: France and the
Netherlands (c.1798-2015) 17
1.5 Multi-Secular Behaviour of Long-Term Interest Rates in the UK
and the USA (c.1790-2015) 18
1.6 Nominal Interest Rates, Millennia Perspective (c.3000 Bc-1700 AD) 19
1.7 Share of Countries with Systemic Banking Crises (1920-2007) 21
1.8 Inflation-Unemployment Trade-Off in the UK (1956-2014) 25
1.9 Distribution of Inflation Rates and Growth Per Capita (1980-2014) 28
1.10 Components of the Money Multiplier in the Euro-Area,
Index 2007=100 (2007-2015) 49
1.11 Components of the Money Multiplier in the USA, Index 2007=100
(2007-2016) so
1.12 Wicksell-Richter Diagram 52
1.13 Variability of Aggregate Per Capita Income and Real Interest Rates:
Average of USA, Italy, UK, and Germany (1870-1915 and 1945-2000) 54
1.14 The ECB Corridor of Interest Rates (1999-2015) 56
1.15 Liquidity and Overnight Interest Rate in the Euro-Area before the Great
Recession (11 July 2007-6 August 2007) 58
1.16 Spread between EONIA and the Rate on ECB Deposits and Excess
Liquidity (2000-2007 and 2008-2015) 60
1.17 Fixation of Interest Rates in the USA 61
1.18 Diagram of Central Bank Dilemma between Inflation
and Financial Stability/Risk Appetite 74
1.19 Inflation and Real GDP Growth in the USA (1948-2016) 77
List of Figures

1.20 Inflation and Real GDP Growth in the Euro-Area (1961-2013) 77

1.21 Inflation and Real GDP Growth in Emerging Economies (1962-2014) 78
1.22 Ratio between Total Credit to Private Non-Financial Sector and GDP
(1971-2013) 84
1.23 Current Account Balance in China and USA, Percentage of GDP
(1998-2015) 85
1.24 US Households' Debt, Percentage of GDP and Percentage of
Disposable Income (1980--2014) 85
1.25 S&P/Case-Shiller US National Home Price Index (1984-2014) 86
1.26 Volatility of Asset Prices in the USA (1990--2017) 87
1.27 Ten-Year Nominal Government Bond Yields in Selected Euro-Area
Countries (1980--2016) 88
1.28 Consumer Price Inflation in Selected Euro-Area Countries (1980--2016) 89
1.29 Difference in Estimated Inflation Expectations between the Periphery
and the Core of the Euro-Area (1985-2015) 90
1.30 Ten-Year Real Government Bond Yields in Selected Core and Peripheral
Euro-Area Countries, CPI Deflator (1980--2016) 91
1.31 Real Interest Rates Calculated from Estimated Expected Inflation Rates,
Selected Euro-area Countries (1985-2015) 91
1.32 Expected Inflation vs Ten-Year Government Bond Interest Differentials
between Periphery and Core of the Euro-Area (1985-2015) 92
1.33 Compensation per Employee in Selected Core and Periphery Euro-Area
Countries, Index 1998=100 (1998-2016) 93
1.34 Current Account Balances in Euro-Area Peripheral Countries,
Percentage of GDP (1980--2016) 94
1.35 Budget Balances in Selected Euro-Area Peripheral Countries, Percentage
of GDP (1980--2016) 95
1.36 Ratio of Bank Loans to Deposits for the Euro-Area, Ireland, and
Spain (1972-2014) 96
1.37 Spreads between the Sovereign Bond Yields of Greece, Italy, and
Spain with Respect to Germany's Ten-Year Yields (2002-2016) 98
2.1 Spread between EONIA and the Rate on ECB MRO (2003-2016) 111
2.2 Spread between the FFR and the Target Rate (2003-2016) 112
2.3 Spreads between Euribor, US Libor, and UK Libor over the OIS
Rate (2002-2015) 113
2.4 Spread between Interest Rates on New Loans up to Euro 1 Million
and EONIA in the Euro-Area (2003-2016) 114
2.5 Spread between the Weighted-Average Effective Loan Rate for All
Commercial and Industry Loans in the USA and the FFR (2003-2016) 115

xvi
 List of Figures

2.6 Yields on Italian, Spanish, and German Ten-Year Government

Bonds and Ten-Year OIS Rate (1998-2016) 116
2.7 Interest Rate Consistent with the Taylor Rule for the Euro-Area and
the USA (1999-2015) 118
2.8 EFFR and Interest Rate Corridor in the USA (2003-2016) 128
2.9 EFFR, IOER, and Interest Rate on ON RPP in the USA (2013-2017) 128
2.10 Total Assets for the ECB, the Fed, and the Bank of England, Index
2007=100 (2007-2016) 129
2.11 ECB Assets (2007-2016) 130
2.12 ECB Liabilities (2007-2016) 131
2.13 Federal Reserve Assets (2007-2016) 131
2.14 Federal Reserve Liabilities (2007-2016) 132
2.15 Trend in Indebtedness of Institutional Sectors in the USA and the
Euro-Area, Debt to GDP ratio. Index 2008=100 (2003-2015) 145
2.16 Central Bank Liquidity Swaps Provided by the Fed (2007-2010) 153
2.17 Five-Year Euro and Sterling against the US Dollar Cross-currency Basis
(2007-2016) 154
2.18 Changes to the Market for Central Bank Reserves during the Great
Recession 161
2.19 Elasticity of EONIA before and during the US Phase of the
Great Recession (January 2007-September 2009) 163
2.20 Off-Target Deviations of the EFFR together with the Volatility of
the Spread (2008-2009) 164
2.21 Euro-Area Reference and Bank Lending Rates to Non-Financial
Corporates (2006-2017) 166
2.22 Spread between MRO Rate and Three-Month Euribor, Excess Liquidity
(September 2008-December 2010) 169
2.23 Distribution of Sovereign Yields and the Difference in Bank
Lending Rates between Periphery and Core (2008-2017) 173
2.24 Germany and USA Ten-Year Sovereign Yields
(2011-2014) 187
2.25 Market Expectations of the Time EONIA Exceeds Zero
(2012-2017) 188
2.26 US Monetary Policy Stance as a Shadow Rate (2005-2017) 193
2.27 Evolution of Inflation Expectation based on Inflation Options:
Probability Distribution for Five-Year Inflation Expectations, Three
Observations Moving Average (2014-2016) 199
2.28 Shadow Rate with a Time-Varying Lower Bound for the ECB
(2007-2017) 200

xvii
List of Figures

2.29 CISS in the Euro-Area (2007-2016) 210

2.30 Market-Based Systemic Risk Measures in the USA (1996-2014) 211
2.31 Liquidity Premium in the Euro-Area (2007-2009) 212
2.32 Liquidity Premium in the USA (2007-2009) 213
2.33 Impaired Loan Ratios of Significant Banking Groups in the
Euro-Area (2007-2016) 215
2.34 Non-Performing Total Loans to Total Loans in the USA
(2003-2016) 216
2.35 Core Tier 1/Common Equity Tier 1 Capital Ratios of Significant
Banking Groups in the Euro-Area (2010-2016) 216
2.36 Percentage Change in Bank Capital-to-Assets Ratio in the USA and
the Euro-Area (2007-2015) 217
2.37 Return on Assets for Euro-Area, Other EU Countries, and the
USA (2000-2014) 218
2.38 Return on Equity and Cost of Equity for Euro-Area Banks (2000-2015) 218
2.39 Return on Equity of Banks in Periphery and Core Euro-Area
Countries and the USA (2003-2014) 219
2.40 Average Return on Equity and Cost of Capital in the USA
(2006-2016) 220
2.41 Sovereign and Bank Credit Default Spreads Guly 2011-May 2014
and May 2014-February 2017) 221
2.42 Bank Credit to Bank Deposits for the Euro-Area and the USA
(2006-2014) 222
2.43 Bank Deleveraging in the Euro-Area (2008-2016) 223
2.44 Foreign Claims of Home Country Banks in the Euro-Area
and the USA (1999-2014) 224
2.45 Price-Based and Quantity-Based FINTEC Indices in the Euro-Area
(1995-2016) 224
2.46 Increase in Shadow Banking in the Euro-Area, Index 2008=100
(2008-2016) 225
2.47 Ratings of Banks in the USA and in the Core and Periphery of
the Euro-Area (2003-2015) 243
2.48 Stock of Bank Lending in the USA and in the Euro-Area,
Index 2007=100 (2007-2016) 244
2.49 Schematic Identification of Lending Supply Shifts 245
2.50 Spread between Lending and Deposit Rate in the Euro-Area
(2000-2016) 246
2.51 Spread between the Bank Lending and Deposit Rate in Germany
and Spain (2003-2016) 246

xviii
 List of Figures

3.1 Relative Frequency of Searches of the Terms 'Inflation'

and 'Price Level' (2004-2017) 264
A.2.1 Balance Statistic of Expected and Perceived Rates of Inflation,
and Actual Inflation in the Euro-Area (1997-2017) 288
A.2.2 Logistic Estimates of Expected Rate of Inflation and Actual Rate of
Inflation in Italy, France, Germany, and Spain (1986-2016) 291
A.2.3 Expected Inflation Rates based on Survey Data Estimates for Spain, Italy,
France, and Germany, plus North-South Differential (1985-2017) 292
B.5.1 Exchange Rate between the Italian Lira and the German Mark
(1965-1998) 35
B.5.2 Interest Rate Spread and Inflation Differential between Italy and
Germany(1965-1998) 37
B.8.1 Money Multipliers in the UK and Japan 48
B.10.1 Volatility of GDP in Selected Countries (Standard Deviation of
Year-on-Year Growth in Percentage Terms-Five-Year Window) 79
B.10.2 Quarterly Inflation Rate, Year-on-Year (1965-2015) 79
B.12.1 Danish Policy Rate and One Month Swap Rate
CTanuary 2013-May 2017) 120
B.12.2 Danish Policy Rate and Bank Lending Rates to Non-Financial
Corporates and Households Ganuary 2012-May 2017) 121
B.12.3 Swedish Policy Rate (Repo), One-Month Money Market Rate
(STIBOR), and Bank Lending Rates to Households and
Non-Financial Corporates Ganuary 2012-May 2017) 122
B.12.4 Swedish Policy Rate (Repo), One-Month Money Market Rate
(STIBOR), and Bank Lending Rates to Households and
Non-Financial Corporates Ganuary 2012-May 2017) 123
B.12.5 Year-on-Year Changes in Bank Lending Volumes in Sweden
CTanuary 2012-May 2017) 124
B.14.1 Target Balances in the Euro-Area Central Bank Balance Sheets 149
B.15.1 Basis Swap between the Dollar and the Euro (2008-2016) 157
B.15.2 Cost of Borrowing Dollars from Central Banks or in the Market
through the Cross-Currency Swap Market 158

xix
List of Tables

1.1 Average of Short- and Long-Term Interest Rates between the Tum of
the Eighteenth Century and 2015 20
1.2 Average Ten-Year Government Bond Yield, Average Inflation
Expectations, and Average Real Interest Rates 93
2.1 Change in Euro Money Market Turnover and Increase in Eurosystem
Balance Sheet (2008-2011) 141
3.1 Correlation coefficient between actual and one year ahead expected
inflation (c.1986-2017) 263
3.2 Summary of the hits to the pre-crisis central banking model and
proposed amendments 284
B.15.1 Swap Agreement Operations between the ECB and the Fed
(2007-2014) 156
List of Boxes

1 Comparing the Fed Dual Approach and the ECB Dominant Price Stability
Objective (Christophe Beuve) 10
2 Changes in the Phillips Curve (Tuomas Valimaki) 22
3 Overcoming Inflationary Bias through Central Bank Independence
(Tuomas Vfilimaki) 26
4 The Long-Run Effect of Inflation on GDP Growth (Piero Esposito) 29
5 The 'Snake-EMS-ERM' Experience and Deutsche Bundesbank Leadership
(Francesco Papadia) 34
6 Different Variants of Inflation Targeting (Tuomas Valimaki) 38
7 Quantifying the Inflation Target (Tuomas Valimaki) 41
8 Empirical Evidence for Money Multipliers (Piero Esposito) 47
9 Financial Stability, Banking Supervision, and Macro-Prudential Policy:
An Intricate Relationship (Francesco Papadia) 68
10 Characteristics of the Great Moderation (Piero Esposito) 78
11 Multiple Equilibria and the Great Recession (Francesco Papadia) 99
12 Early Experiences with Negative Rates (Tuomas Vfilimaki) 118
13 Fed and ECB Actions during the Great Recession (Christophe Beuve) 133
14 Target Balances (Philippine Cour-Thimann) 148
15 An Example of Diamond-Dybvig Pricing: Central Bank Swaps during
the Great Recession (Alessandra Marcelletti) 155
16 The European Banking Union (Ariana Gilbert-Mongelli) 234
List of Contributors

Christophe Beuve is currently the Head of Bond Markets and International Operations
Division in the Directorate General of Market Operations at the ECB. He joined the ECB
in 1998 and has occupied various positions in the asset management and monetary
policy implementation areas. Prior to joining the ECB, Christophe worked in the
money and foreign exchange markets departments at the Banque de France. He also
worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for two years and at the Fed for
18 months.
Philippine Cour-Thimann teaches monetary economics at HEC and at the Paris
Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po). She is Principal Economist at the ECB where
she has been working since 1999 in the areas of monetary, fiscal, and financial analysis.
Between 2007 and 2014 she contributed to the design and implementation of monetary
policy decisions in the global financial crisis. Prior to joining the ECB, she
worked at CEPII, the French centre for international economics. Her current research
interests are in the fields of monetary policy, and money and banking. She holds
graduate degrees in engineering and economics.
Piero Esposito has been a researcher at the School of European Political Economy
since September 2014. He has a PhD in economics from Sapienza University of Rome.
Between 2011 and 2014, he was a post-doctoral researcher at Sant'Anna School of
Advanced Studies in Pisa, and a researcher at Centro Europa Ricerche (CER) in Rome.
Between 2009 and 2010, he was a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute of Economic
Studies and Analyses (ISAE, now merged with !STAT). His research focuses mainly on
European economic policy, competitiveness, international trade, and applied
econometrics.
Ariana Gilbert-Mongelli has a Master's degree in Public Policy from the University
of Chicago. Previously she worked as a Research Associate at the Washington, DC,
Office of Vanderbilt University's Institute for Public Policy Studies, among various
other positions. Currently she resides in Frankfurt, where she is a freelance editor
and writer.
Pia Hiittl is an Affiliate Fellow at Bruegel. Prior to this, Pia worked as a trainee in the
Monetary Policy Stance Division of the ECB, and as a trainee in the Directorate-General
for Economic and Financial Affairs of the European Commission. She holds a Master's
degree in International Economics from the University of Rome Tor Vergata and a
Master's degree in European Political Economy from the London School of Economics.
Currently, she is a PhD candidate at the Berlin Doctoral Programme in Economics and
List of Contributors

Management Science. Her research interests include macroeconomics, international

economics, and European political economy.
Alessandra Marcelletti is a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Political
Science of University LUISS Guido Carli, and a Research Fellow at the School of
European Political Economy-LUISS since January 2015. She holds a PhD in Economic
Theory and Institution from the University of Rome Tor Vergata. Her current research
interests include European economic policy, government policy and regulation of
banks and financial institutions, and applied econometrics.
Francesco Papadia has nearly 40 years of central banking experience. Beginning
with the founding of the ECB in 1998, and until 2012, he served as the Director General
for Market Operations at the ECB. Prior to that, he held various positions at the
Banca d'Italia and was Economic Advisor at the EU Commission. Currently he is
Chairman of the Board of the Prime Collateralised Securities, Chair of the Selection
Panel of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund, Senior Resident Fellow at the Bruegel
Institute, and a university lecturer.
Tuomas Viilimaki is the Head of Monetary Policy and Research at the Bank of
Finland. As the Bank's Chief Economist, he is a member of the ECB's Monetary Policy
Committee. During his two decades as a central banker, he has also worked as a
visiting expert at the ECB.

xxvi
Introduction

Fundamental questions about the optimal set-up for central banks are examined
in this book. In particular, we ask whether the model of an independent central
bank devoted to price stability, 1 which affirmed itself in most advanced econ-
omies at the turn of the last century, is the final resting point of a long and
complex development that started centuries ago. We dissect the hypothesis
that the Great Recession has prompted a reassessment and a possible revision
of that model. 2 The most important factors raising this issue number four.
First, a renewed emphasis on financial stability as an explicit key objective to
be pursued by a central bank has emerged, possibly vying for the first rank
with price stability and causing potential dilemmas for the central bank,
which would have to arbitrage between two different objectives. The dilemma
arises because the implicit assumption that the pursuit of price stability would
always coincide with that of financial stability was not verified during the
Great Recession. Second, central bank action moved closer to fiscal policy,
both in the United States (USA) and in Europe. Third, forceful central bank
action, while needed to avoid even graver economic consequences, engendered
moral hazard. Fourth, and connected to the previous point, in the euro-area,
more general responsibilities, such as avoiding the demise of the euro, were
thrown upon the central bank. Ultimately, we ask whether the traditional
model has been irrevocably altered, as central banks have been required to
take on new responsibilities. Are we entering, as Goodhart (2010) has hypothe-
sized, the 'fourth epoch' of central banking?
This book is organized into three main chapters. Chapter 1 examines
how central banks have evolved over the decades, showing that, historically,
four objectives have vied for dominance in the central bank ranking of

1 The issue of the so-called dual mandate of the Fed is examined in Box 1 (see Chapter 1).
2 Claudio Borio (2014b) also examines this hypothesis and reaches a quite trenchant conclusion:
'Central banking will never be quite the same after the global financial crisis' (p. 191).
Central Banking in Turbulent Times

objectives: price stability, financial stability, economic growth, and the fund-
ing of the government. The prevalence of the price stability objective eventu-
ally resulted from the poor inflation control delivered by the monetary policy
technology that substituted the gold standard, until monetary control was
entrusted to an independent central bank devoted to price stability. The
implementation of the principle of central bank independence was somewhat
different between the USA and the euro-area, partly by design, partly by
necessity. In fact, in Europe, the memory of the ravages of inflation and the
absence of a strong partner for the central bank, such as the US Treasury, led to
a stronger version of central bank independence. In institutional terms, this
can be seen in the fact that in the euro-area, unlike in the USA, central bank
independence has constitutional relevance.
The conceptual and empirical basis for the dominant central banking
model before the Great Recession are herein illustrated. In essence, economic
theory and actual economic developments showed that there is no permanent
trade-off between inflation and growth: indeed, stable prices foster growth in
the long run. This finding was the basis for the generalized prevalence of
central banks dedicated to price stability and endowed with the independent,
technical discretion to pursue this objective. In Europe, the long quest for
monetary union eventually succeeded when, based on the example of the
Deutsche Bundesbank, it was agreed that the basis of the monetary union
should be price stability rather than the intrinsically flawed attempt to stabil-
ize exchange rates.
The main components of the central bank model prevailing before the
Great Recession are also presented in this chapter. The approach that
Wicksell developed in the 1920s, in which the interest rate rather than any
monetary quantity plays the critical role, is a fundamental component of that
model. Inflation targeting, giving up the attempt to identify intermediate
targets, is the way in which the predominant objective of price stability was
operationalized. The Taylor rule (1993) moved Wicksell's main analytical
point closer to an approach that can be used for practical policymaking.
Finally, the corridor approach was developed as an effective and parsimonious
way to control the interest rate. The validation of that model during the Great
Moderation is also discussed. It is stressed, however, that financial stability
did not fit easily within the then prevailing paradigm. This feature matched
the illusion that advanced economies had graduated from financial and
banking crises, but was also favoured by the complexity of the concept of
financial stability and its intricate relationship with banking supervision and
macro-prudential policy. The possibility of dilemmas between the pursuits of
financial or price stability is also presented, stressing that such dilemmas
were hidden as long as financial stability was the overlooked field in the action
of central banks.

2
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Advice to a
wife and mother in two parts
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

Title: Advice to a wife and mother in two parts

Embracing advice to a wife, and advice to a mother

Author: Pye Henry Chavasse

Release date: October 15, 2023 [eBook #71887]

Language: English

Original publication: Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co, 1881

Credits: Richard Tonsing, MFR, and the Online Distributed

Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file
was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADVICE TO

A WIFE AND MOTHER IN TWO PARTS ***
Transcriber's Note:
New original cover art included with this eBook is
granted to the public domain.
 ADVICE
TO A

WIFE AND MOTHER.

IN TWO PARTS.
EMBRACING

ADVICE TO A WIFE,
AND

ADVICE TO A MOTHER.

BY
PYE HENRY CHAVASSE.

SEVENTEENTH EDITION.

PHILADELPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
1881.
 ADVICE TO A WIFE
ON THE
MANAGEMENT OF HER OWN HEALTH,
AND ON THE
TREATMENT OF SOME OF THE COMPLAINTS
INCIDENTAL TO
PREGNANCY, LABOR, AND SUCKLING;
WITH AN
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER ESPECIALLY ADDRESSED TO A YOUNG
WIFE.

BY

PYE HENRY CHAVASSE,

FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND; FELLOW
OF THE OBSTETRICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON; FORMERLY PRESIDENT OF
QUEEN’S COLLEGE MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY, BIRMINGHAM;
AUTHOR OF “ADVICE TO A MOTHER ON THE MANAGEMENT OF HER
CHILDREN.”

“Thy wife shall be as the fruitful vine upon the walls of thine house.”

SEVENTEENTH EDITION.

PHILADELPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.

1881.
 TO

MY BIRMINGHAM PATIENTS,
MANY OF WHOM I HAVE ATTENDED FOR A PERIOD OF
UPWARDS OF THIRTY YEARS; SOME OF WHOM, HAVING
USHERED INTO THE WORLD, I AFTERWARD ATTENDED IN
THEIR OWN CONFINEMENTS; AND FROM ALL OF WHOM I
HAVE RECEIVED SO MUCH CONFIDENCE, COURTESY, AND
KINDNESS,

This little Volume is Dedicated,

BY THEIR SINCERE FRIEND,

PYE HENRY CHAVASSE

Priory House, Old Square,

Birmingham.
 PREFACE.

The sale of copies of this book is now to be reckoned by its tens of

thousands! The last, the Seventh Edition, comprising five thousand
copies, has been rapidly exhausted; a new Edition, the Eighth, is
now urgently called for; and as the sale of the work is so enormous,
and so extending, my worthy Publishers have deemed it advisable to
publish of this edition at once seven thousand copies,—thus making
of the two last editions alone twelve thousand copies; the two last
editions being, in fact, equal to twelve ordinary editions! Moreover,
this book has made me troops of friends, thus proving how much
such a work was needed, and how thoroughly my humble efforts
have been appreciated.
I have, in the Introductory Chapter especially addressed to a
Young Wife, had some plain and unpalatable truths to tell; but it is
absolutely necessary for a surgeon to probe a serious and deep-
seated wound to the bottom before he can perform a cure; he is
sometimes compelled to give pain before he can cure pain; he is
frequently obliged to administer bitter medicine before sweet health
can be restored. I have not shrunk from my duty; I have not uttered
an “uncertain sound:” but have, without fear or favor, boldly spoken
out, and have proclaimed what I have deemed to be the truth; the
vital importance of my subject must excuse my plain-speaking and
earnestness. When a person is on the edge of a precipice, and is
ready at any moment to topple over, the words of warning must not
be in the tones of a whisper, bland and gentle, but in the voice of
thunder, bold and decisive. I have had to discourse on matters of the
greatest moment to the well-being of wives; and have, therefore, in
order not to be misapprehended, had to call things by their right
names—the subject being of far too much importance to write in a
namby-pamby style, or to use any other language than that of the
plainest English.
 The Introductory Chapter is, I trust, greatly improved; many of the
quotations are either curtailed, or are altogether suppressed, in order
to make room, without materially increasing the size of the book, for
much new and important matter. The remaining pages have all been
carefully revised and corrected, and made more clear, and additional
advice, where needed, has been supplied. I therefore hope that this
edition will be still more worthy of its great and extending success,
and be the humble instrument of sowing broadcast through our land
advice most necessary for wives to know; and at the same time be the
means of dispelling prejudices which, in the lying-in room, are even,
in this our day, most rife and injurious.
Barren wives! delicate wives! unhealthy wives! are the order of the
day—are become institutions of the country—are so common as not
to be considered strange, but to be, as a matter of course, as part and
parcel of our everyday life! Should such things be? I emphatically say
No! But then a thorough change, a complete reformation, must take
place in the life and habits of a wife. It is no use blinking the
question; the truth, the whole truth, must come out, and the sooner
it is told the better. Oh! it is sad that the glorious mission of a wife
should, as it often does, end so ingloriously! Broken health, neglected
duties, a childless home, blighted hopes, misery, and discontent.
What an awful catalogue of the consequences of luxury, of
stimulants, of fashion, of ignorance, and of indolence—the five
principal wife and babe destroyers! Sure I am that the foregoing
melancholy results may, in the generality of cases, by timely and
judicious treatment, be prevented.
This is an age of stimulants—’tis the curse of the day; wine, in
excess, instead of being an element of strength, is one of weakness;
instead of encouraging fecundity, is one of its greatest preventives. A
lady who drinks daily five or six glasses of wine, is invariably weak,
low, hysterical, and “nervous,”—complaining that she can neither
eat, nor sleep, nor take exercise; she is totally unfit for the duties and
responsibilities of either wife or mother. I shall endeavor in the
following pages to prove the truth of these bold assertions.
Many young married ladies now drink as much wine in a day as
their grandmothers did in a week; and which I verily believe is one
cause of so few children, and of so much barrenness among them. It
is no use: the subject is too important to allow false delicacy to stand
in the way of this announcement; the truth must be told; the ulcer
which is eating into the vitals of society must be probed; the danger,
the folly, the wickedness of the system must be laid bare; the battle
must be fought; and as no medical man has come forward to begin
the conflict, I myself boldly throw down the gauntlet, and will, to the
best of my strength and ability, do battle in the cause.
It is the abuse and not the use of wine that I am contending
against. I am not advocating teetotal principles—certainly not. The
one system is as absurd and as wrong as the other; extremes, either
way, are most injurious to the constitution both of man and woman.
The advice of St. Paul is glorious advice: “Use a little wine for thy
stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities;” and again, when he says,
“be temperate in all things.” These are my sentiments, and which I
have, in the following pages, so earnestly contended for.
A lady who “eats without refreshment, and slumbers without
repose,” is deeply to be pitied, even though she be as rich as Crœsus,
or as beautiful as Venus! Nothing can compensate for the want of
either sleep or appetite; life without proper appetite and without
refreshing sleep will soon become a wearisome burden too heavy to
bear. It is high time, when there are so many of the Young Wives of
England, alas! too many, who daily “eat without refreshment,” and
who nightly “slumber without repose,” that the subject was
thoroughly looked into, and that proper means were suggested to
abate the calamity. One of the principal objects of this book is to
throw light upon the subject, and to counsel measures to remedy the
evil.
The large number of barren wives in England has, in these pages,
had my careful and earnest consideration. I have endeavored, to the
best of my ability, to point out, as far as the wives themselves are
concerned, many of the causes, and have advised remedies to abate
the same. It is quite time, when the health among the wives of the
higher classes is so much below par, and when children among them
are so few, that the causes should be thoroughly inquired into, and
that the treatment should be extensively made known. The subject is
of immense, indeed I might even say, of national importance, and
demands deep and earnest thought and careful investigation, as the
strength and sinews of a nation depend mainly upon the number and
healthfulness of her children.
 Barren land can generally, with care and skill, be made fertile; an
unfruitful vine can frequently, by an experienced gardener, be
converted into a fruit-bearing one; a childless wife can often, by
judicious treatment, be made a child-bearing one. Few things in this
world are impossible: “where there is a will there is generally a way;”
but if there be a will, it must be a determined and a persevering will;
if there be a way, the way, however rough and rugged, must be
trodden,—the rough and rugged path will, as she advances onward,
become smooth and pleasant.
It is not the poor woman, who works hard and who lives hard, that
is usually barren—certainly not: she has generally an abundance of
children; but it is the rich lady—the one who is indolent, who lives
luxuriously, and fares sumptuously every day—who leads a
fashionable, and therefore an unnatural life—who turns night into
day, who at night breathes suffocatingly hot rooms, who lives in a
whirl of excitement, who retires not to rest until the small hours of
the morning,—such a one is the one that is frequently barren; and
well she might be,—it would be most strange if she were not so. One
of the objects of this book will be to point out these causes, and to
suggest remedies for the same, and thus to stem the torrent, and in
some measure to do away with the curse of barrenness which in
England, at the present time, so fearfully prevails.
I have undertaken a responsible task, but have thrown my whole
energy and ability into it; I therefore have no excuse to make that I
have not thought earnestly and well upon the subject, or that I have
written unadvisedly; my thoughts and studies have for years been
directed to these matters. I earnestly hope, then, that I have not
written in vain, but that the seeds now sown will, in due time, bring
forth much fruit.
Although my two books—Advice to a Wife and Advice to a Mother
—are published as separate works, they might, in point of fact, be
considered as one volume—one only being the continuation of the
other. Advice to a Wife, treating on a mother’s own health, being, as
it were, a preparation for Advice to a Mother on the management of
her children’s health; it is quite necessary that the mother herself
should be healthy to have healthy children; and if she have healthy
offspring, it is equally important that she should be made thoroughly
acquainted how to keep them in health. The object of Advice to a
Wife and Advice to a Mother is for that end; indeed, the acquisition
and the preservation of sound health, of mother and of child, have, in
both my books, been my earnest endeavor, my constant theme, the
beginning and the ending, the sum and the substance of my
discourse, on which all else beside hinges.
I again resign this book into the hands of my fair readers, hoping
that it may be of profit and of service to them during the whole
period of their wifehood; and especially during the most interesting
part of their lives—in their hour of anguish and of trial; and that it
may be the humble means of making a barren woman “to be a joyful
mother of children.”
PYE HENRY CHAVASSE

Priory House, Old Square,

Birmingham.
 CONTENTS.

PAGES
Dedication iii
Preface to Eighth Edition v–x
Introductory Chapter 13–102

PART I.
On Menstruation 103–116

PART II.
On Pregnancy 117–198

PART III.
On Labor 199–254

PART IV.
On Suckling 255–300

Index 301–309
 Advice to a Wife.

A good wife is Heaven’s last, best gift to man—his angel and minister of graces
innumerable—his gem of many virtues—his casket of jewels. Her voice is sweet
music, her smiles his brightest day, her kiss the guardian of his innocence, her
arms the pale of his safety, the balm of his health, the balsam of his life; her
industry his surest wealth, her economy his safest steward, her lips his faithful
counselors, her bosom the softest pillow of his cares, and her prayers the ablest
advocate of Heaven’s blessings on his head.—Jeremy Taylor.

Of earthly goods, the best is a good Wife;

A bad, the bitterest curse of human life.—Simonides.
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

1. It may be well—before I enter on the subjects of menstruation, of

pregnancy, of labor, and suckling—to offer a few preliminary
observations, especially addressed to a Young Wife.
2. My subject is health—the care, the restoration, and the
preservation of health—one of the most glorious subjects that can be
brought before a human being, and one that should engross much of
our time and of our attention, and one that cannot be secured unless
it be properly attended to. The human frame is, as every one knows,
constantly liable to be out of order; it would be strange, indeed, if a
beautiful and complex instrument like the human body were not
occasionally out of tune:
“Strange that a harp with a thousand strings
Should keep in tune so long.”

3. The advice I am about to offer to my fair reader is of the greatest

importance, and demands her deepest attention. How many wives
are there with broken health, with feeble constitutions, and with
childless homes! Their number is legion! It is painful to contemplate
that, in our country, there are far more unhealthy than healthy
wives! There must surely be numerous causes for such a state of
things! A woman, born with every perfection, to be full of bodily
infirmities! It was ordained by the Almighty that wives should be
fruitful and multiply! Surely there must be something wrong in the
present system if they do not do so!
4. It will, in the following pages, be my object to point out many of
the causes of so much ill health among wives; ill health that
sometimes leads to barrenness; and to suggest remedies both for the
prevention and for the cure of such causes.
5. It is an astounding and lamentable fact, that one out of eight—
that twelve and a half per cent. of all the wives of England are barren,
are childless! A large majority of this twelve and a half per cent.
might be made fruitful, if a more judicious plan of procedure than is
at present pursued were adopted.
6. My anxious endeavors, in the following pages, will be to point
out remedies for the evil, and to lay down rules—rules which, I hope,
my fair reader will strenuously follow.
7. My theme, then, is Health—the Health of Wives—and the object
I shall constantly have in view will be the best means both of
preserving it and of restoring it when lost. By making a wife strong,
she will not only, in the majority of cases, be made fruitful, but
capable of bringing healthy children into the world. This latter
inducement is of great importance; for puny children are not only an
anxiety to their parents, but a misery to themselves, and a trouble to
all around! Besides, it is the children of England that are to be her
future men and women—her glory and her greatness! How desirable
it is, then, that her children should be hardy and strong!
8. A wife may be likened to a fruit tree, a child to its fruit. We all
know that it is as impossible to have fine fruit from an unhealthy tree
as to have a fine child from an unhealthy mother. In the one case, the
tree either does not bear fruit at all—is barren—or it bears
undersized, tasteless fruit,—fruit which often either immaturely
drops from the tree, or, if plucked from the tree, is useless; in the
other case, the wife either does not bear children—she is barren—or
she has frequent miscarriages—“untimely fruit”—or she bears puny,
sickly children, who often either drop into an early grave, or, if they
live, probably drag out a miserable existence. You may as well expect
“to gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles,” as healthy children
from unhealthy parents!
9. Unhealthy parents, then, as a matter of course have unhealthy
children; this is as truly the case as the night follows the day, and
should deter both man and woman so circumstanced from marrying.
There are numerous other complaints besides scrofula and insanity
inherited and propagated by parents. It is a fearful responsibility,
both to men and women, if they be not healthy, to marry. The result
must, as a matter of course, be misery!
10. If a wife is to be healthy and strong, she must use the means—
she must sow before she can reap; health will not come by merely
wishing for it! The means are not always at first agreeable; but, like
many other things, habit makes them so. Early rising, for instance, is
not agreeable to the lazy, and to one fond of her bed; but it is
essentially necessary to sound health. Exercise is not agreeable to the
indolent; but no woman can be really strong without it. Thorough
ablution of the whole body is distasteful and troublesome to one not
accustomed to much washing—to one laboring under a kind of
hydrophobia; but there is no perfect health without the daily
cleansing of the whole skin.
11. But all these processes entail trouble. True: is anything in this
world to be done without trouble? and is not the acquisition of
precious health worth trouble? Yes, it is worth more than all our
other acquisitions put together! Life without health is a burden; life
with health is a joy and gladness! Up, then, and arouse yourself, and
be doing! No time is to be lost if you wish to be well, to be a mother,
and to be a mother of healthy children. The misfortune of it is, many
ladies are more than half asleep, and are not aroused to danger till
danger stares them in the face; they are not cognizant of ill health
slowly creeping upon them, until, in too many cases, the time is gone
by for relief, and ill health has become confirmed—has become a part
and parcel of themselves; they do not lock the stable until the steed
be stolen; they do not use the means until the means are of no avail:
“Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie,
Which we ascribe to Heaven: the fated sky
Gives us free scope; only doth backward pull
Our slow designs, when we ourselves are dull.”[1]

12. Idleness is the mother of many diseases; she breeds them,

feeds them, and fosters them, and is, moreover, a great enemy to
fecundity. Idleness makes people miserable. I have heard a young
girl—surrounded with every luxury—bemoan her lot, and complain
that she was most unhappy in consequence of not having anything to
do, and who wished that she had been a servant, so that she might
have been obliged to work for her living. Idleness is certainly the
hardest work in the world.
13. It frequently happens that a lady, surrounded with every luxury
and every comfort, drags out a miserable existence; she cannot say
that she ever, even for a single day, really feels well and strong. This
is not to live—
 “For life is not to live, but to be well.”[2]

14. If a person be in perfect health, the very act of living is itself

thorough enjoyment, the greatest this world can ever bestow. How
needful it therefore is that all necessary instruction should be
imparted to every Young Wife, and that proper means should, in
every way, be used to insure health!
15. The judicious spending of the first year of married life is of the
greatest importance in the making and in the strengthening of a
wife’s constitution, and in preparing her for having a family. How
sad it is, then, that it is the first twelve months that is, as a rule,
especially chosen to mar and ruin her own health, and to make her
childless! The present fashionable system of spending the first few
months of married life in a round of visiting, of late hours, and in
close and heated rooms, calls loudly for a change. How many
valuable lives have been sacrificed to such a custom! How many
miscarriages, premature births, and still-born children, have resulted
therefrom! How many homes have been made childless—desolate—
by it! Time it is that common sense should take the place of such
folly! The present system is abominable, is rotten at the core, and is
fraught with the greatest danger to human life and human
happiness. How often a lady is, during the first year of her wifehood,
gadding out night after night,—one evening to a dinner party, the
next night to private theatricals, the third to an evening party, the
fourth to the theater, the fifth to a ball, the sixth to a concert, until in
some cases every night except Sunday night is consumed in this way,
—coming home frequently in the small hours of the morning,
through damp or fog, or rain or snow, feverish, flushed, and excited
—too tired until the morning to sleep, when she should be up, out,
and about. When the morning dawns she falls into a heavy,
unrefreshing slumber, and wakes not until noon, tired, and unfit for
the duties of the day! Night after night—gas, crowded rooms,
carbonic acid gas, late hours, wine, and excitement are her portion.
As long as such a plan is adopted the preacher preacheth but in vain.
Night after night, week after week, month after month, this game is
carried on, until at length either an illness or broken health
supervenes. Surely these are not the best means to insure health and
a family and healthy progeny! The fact is, a wife nowadays is too
artificial; she lives on excitement; it is like drinking no wine but