VoxEU, August 20, 2018. HTML. To a first approximation, inside and outside money are substitutes—the introduction of CBDC does not change the equilibrium allocation. Bank incentives and central bank incentives might be affected though. CBDC could increase the incentive to extend credit but might undermine the political support for implicit financial assistance to banks.
Read More »Nine Years of Greek Debt Crisis
In the NZZ, René Höltschi reviews the Greek debt crisis since October 2009.
Read More »Nine Years of Greek Debt Crisis
In the NZZ, René Höltschi reviews the Greek debt crisis since October 2009.
Read More »Germany, or the Bundesbank Caves In
In the FAZ, Philip Plickert reports that Deutsche Bundesbank changed its terms of business. Starting August 25, the Bundesbank may refuse cash transactions with a bank if the Bundesbank fears that, counter to the bank’s assurances, the cash transaction might help the bank or its customers evade sanctions or restrictions with the aim to impede money laundering or terrorism finance. Conveniently, this will allow the Bundesbank to reject a request by European-Iranian Handelsbank to withdraw...
Read More »Germany, or the Bundesbank Caves In
In the FAZ, Philip Plickert reports that Deutsche Bundesbank changed its terms of business. Starting August 25, the Bundesbank may refuse cash transactions with a bank if the Bundesbank fears that, counter to the bank’s assurances, the cash transaction might help the bank or its customers evade sanctions or restrictions with the aim to impede money laundering or terrorism finance. Conveniently, this will allow the Bundesbank to reject a request by European-Iranian Handelsbank to withdraw...
Read More »How Switzerland Became Multilingual
In the NZZ, Christophe Büchi reports how Switzerland became a multilingual country. Immigration occurred in waves; sometimes the immigrants adjusted more, sometimes less.
Read More »How Switzerland Became Multilingual
In the NZZ, Christophe Büchi reports how Switzerland became a multilingual country. Immigration occurred in waves; sometimes the immigrants adjusted more, sometimes less.
Read More »“Reserves For All? Central Bank Digital Currency, Deposits, and their (Non)-Equivalence,” CEPR, 2018
CEPR Discussion Paper 13065, July 2018. PDF. (Personal copy.) I offer a macroeconomic perspective on the “Reserves for All” (RFA) proposal to let the general public use electronic central bank money. After distinguishing RFA from cryptocurrencies and relating the proposal to discussions about narrow banking and the abolition of cash I propose an equivalence result according to which a marginal substitution of outside for inside money does not affect macroeconomic outcomes. I identify key...
Read More »“Reserves For All? Central Bank Digital Currency, Deposits, and their (Non)-Equivalence,” CEPR, 2018
CEPR Discussion Paper 13065, July 2018. PDF. (Personal copy.) I offer a macroeconomic perspective on the “Reserves for All” (RFA) proposal to let the general public use electronic central bank money. After distinguishing RFA from cryptocurrencies and relating the proposal to discussions about narrow banking and the abolition of cash I propose an equivalence result according to which a marginal substitution of outside for inside money does not affect macroeconomic outcomes. I identify key...
Read More »Mobile Phone Use and Cognitive Functions
In Environmental Health Perspectives, Milena Foerster, Arno Thielens, Wout Joseph, Marloes Eeftens, and Martin Röösli report findings that suggest potential adverse effects of adolescents’ mobile phone use on cognitive functions. We found preliminary evidence suggesting that RF-EMF may affect brain functions such as figural memory in regions that are most exposed during mobile phone use. Our findings do not provide conclusive evidence of causal effects and should be interpreted with...
Read More »