Dirk Niepelt

This SUERF Baffi Bocconi e-lecture hosted Katrin Assenmacher, ECB, and Dirk Niepelt, University of Bern, to discuss Libra 2.0 from a monetary policy and financial stability perspective and to set Libra 2.0 in relation to the concept of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC). After the two presentations the speakers answered live to questions posed in the chat. Moderator: Donato Masciandaro, Bocconi University. Idea and scientific design: Ernest Gnan, OeNB and SUERF.

In an NBER working paper, Geoffrey Heal discusses some aspects of the energy transition to come. On infrastructure investments: the likely net investment required to go carbon-free is now as little as $0.179 trillion renewable power from wind and solar PV plants is now less expensive than power from gas, coal or nuclear plants … If it were not for the intermittency of renewables, we would save money by converting to clean power. the social benefits from stopping the CO2 emissions...

Britta Glennon reports in an NBER working paper that the two go together. Skilled immigration restrictions may have secondary consequences that have been largely overlooked in the immigration debate: multinational firms faced with visa constraints have an offshoring option, namely, hiring the labor they need at their foreign affiliates. If multinationals use this option, then restrictive migration policies are unlikely to have the desired effects of increasing employment of natives,...

Colleague, co-author, visionary. Assar remains a role model. He was curious, open minded, and incorruptible. He didn’t need to prove himself or that he was correct (politically and otherwise), all he wanted was to contribute and learn. He was a generalist, both in economics and beyond. He exposed nonsense and shaped policy. He will be sadly missed. In memory of Assar Lindbeck.

C. Septhon reports in Modern Consensus: The Sygnum Digital Swiss Franc (DCHF), which is pegged on a 1:1 basis with the fiat currency, was used to complete a payment for an Apple iPad at Digitec Galaxus, Switzerland’s largest online retailer. Coinify, a digital currency platform provider, enabled the sale to take place. Sygnum is different from Tether etc. because it is a regulated bank. Accordingly, DCHF corresponds to a monitored currency board.

MA course at the University of Bern. Time: Wed 10-12. KSL course site. Course assistant: Armando Näf. The course introduces Master students to modern macroeconomic theory. Building on the analysis of the consumption-saving tradeoff and on concepts from general equilibrium theory, the course covers workhorse general equilibrium models of modern macroeconomics, including the representative agent framework, the overlapping generations model, and possibly the Lucas tree model. Lectures...

The new Global Sanctions Database covers bilateral, multilateral, and plurilateral sanctions from 1950 to 2016.

Finanz und Wirtschaft, July 25, 2020. PDF. The Swiss National Bank—yes, the Swiss one—feels it must remind politicians of its independence. Parliamentarians from left to right (!) voice demands. To shrink the SNB’s balance sheet? No, for more central bank profits to be distributed sooner rather than later. I discuss misconceptions, possible motivations, and a constructive response. «The best way to defend the independence of a central bank is never to exercise it.»

Die Volkswirtschaft, 24 July 2020. PDF. Clarifying the connections between outright monetary financing, QE, the distribution of seignorage profits, the relationship between fiscal and monetary policy, and central bank independence. Abstract: Wenn Parlamentarier höhere Gewinnausschüttungen der Nationalbank fordern, Kritiker im Euroraum mehr «Quantitative Easing» oder Helikoptergeld verlangen und andere Stimmen monetäre Staatsfinanzierung monieren, dann steht die Beziehung zwischen...

Economic Journal, forthcoming, with Harris Dellas. PDF. We study the optimal debt and investment decisions of a sovereign with private information. The separating equilibrium is characterized by a cap on the current account. A sovereign repays debt amount due that exceeds default costs in order to signal creditworthiness and smooth consumption. Accepting funding conditional on investment/reforms relaxes borrowing constraints, even when investment does not create collateral, but it...