Central Banking reports about the new working paper by Markus Brunnermeier and myself.
Read More »Liechtenstein’s 300-Year-Anniversary Trail
In the New York Times, John Henderson reports about a new hiking trail in Liechtenstein that was opened to mark the country’s 300-year anniversary. This Cross-Country Hike Took 5 Days. That’s Going the Long Way. According to Lonely Planet, the trail makes Liechtenstein one of the top European travel destinations in 2019.
Read More »“On the Equivalence of Private and Public Money,” NBER, 2019
NBER Working Paper 25877, May 2019, with Markus Brunnermeier. PDF. (Local copy.) We develop a generic model of money and liquidity that identifies sources of liquidity bubbles and seignorage rents. We provide sufficient conditions under which a swap of monies leaves the equilibrium allocation and price system unchanged. We apply the equivalence result to the “Chicago Plan,” cryptocurrencies, the Indian de-monetization experiment, and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). In particular, we...
Read More »Hospital Care in Switzerland and Germany
In the NZZ, Thomas Hürlimann reviews his experience as a patient in Swiss and German hospitals. Top: Stans, Prof. Dr. Bachmann. Flop: Baar, Berlin Friedrichshain.
Read More »Hospital Care in Switzerland and Germany
In the NZZ, Thomas Hürlimann reviews his experience as a patient in Swiss and German hospitals. Top: Stans, Prof. Dr. Bachmann. Flop: Baar, Berlin Friedrichshain.
Read More »Climate Risk, Credit Risk, and ECB Collateral
In a CEP Discussion Note, Pierre Monnin argues that financial markets mis-price climate related credit risk. If this were corrected some securities held by the ECB would loose their investment grade credit rating. Assessing climate risks requires methodologies based on forward-looking scenarios, on complex cause-and-effect linkages and on data that has not been observed in the past. Such models are at their infancy, but already offer meaningful insights. This note provides an overview of...
Read More »Climate Risk, Credit Risk, and ECB Collateral
In a CEP Discussion Note, Pierre Monnin argues that financial markets mis-price climate related credit risk. If this were corrected some securities held by the ECB would loose their investment grade credit rating. Assessing climate risks requires methodologies based on forward-looking scenarios, on complex cause-and-effect linkages and on data that has not been observed in the past. Such models are at their infancy, but already offer meaningful insights. This note provides an overview of...
Read More »“Moderne monetäre Theorie: Ein makroökonomisches Perpetuum mobile (The Macroeconomic Perpetuum Mobile),” NZZ, 2019
NZZ, April 25, 2019. PDF. Modern monetary theory (MMT) is neither a theory, nor modern, nor exclusively monetary. I discuss fallacies related to MMT. Dynamic inefficiency requires permanent, not transitory, r<g. For now, policy makers should rely on common sense rather than MMT.
Read More »“Moderne monetäre Theorie: Ein makroökonomisches Perpetuum mobile (The Macroeconomic Perpetuum Mobile),” NZZ, 2019
NZZ, April 25, 2019. PDF. Modern monetary theory (MMT) is neither a theory, nor modern, nor exclusively monetary. I discuss fallacies related to MMT. Dynamic inefficiency requires permanent, not transitory, r<g. For now, policy makers should rely on common sense rather than MMT.
Read More »Yuval Noah Harari’s “Sapiens—A Brief History of Humankind”
Homo appeared roughly 2 million years ago in Africa and Homo sapiens roughly 200’000 years ago in East Africa. Harari divides his account of the last 70’000 years into four parts: The cognitive revolution (language), the agricultural revolution (about 10’000 years ago in today’s Turkey, Iran, Levant), the unification of humankind (through money, empire, and religion), and the scientific revolution. According to Harari, Sapiens developed more efficient strategies for cooperation than other...
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