Source: CNBC.
Read More »Robert Wolff’s “Original Wisdom”
Goodreads rating 4.37. Wolff describes his experiences in rural Malaysia and in the jungle among the Sng’oi, where he learns (rather than being taught) new forms of awareness and knowledge. I saw clearly—perhaps for the first time—that most people, even scientists, can see the world only from one point of view: their own. [p. 146] Malay culture values halus—soft, gentle, polite—and despises kasar.
Read More »“Sovereign Bond Prices, Haircuts and Maturity,” UniBe, 2022
With Tamon Asonuma and Romain Ranciere. UniBe Discussion Paper 22-13, November 2022. PDF. We document that creditor losses (”haircuts”) during sovereign debt restructurings vary across debt maturity. In our novel dataset on instrument-specific haircuts suffered by private creditors in 1999-‒2020 we find larger losses on short- than long-term debt, independently of the specific haircut measure we use. A standard asset pricing model rationalizes our findings under two assumptions, both...
Read More »Mortality Externalities of CO2-Emissions
In the Quarterly Journal of Economics (137, 4), a group of authors estimates that the mean global increase in mortality risk due to climate change, accounting for adaptation benefits and costs, is valued at roughly 3.2% of global GDP in 2100 under a high-emissions scenario. Notably, today’s cold locations are projected to benefit, while today’s poor and hot locations have large projected damages. Finally, our central estimates indicate that the release of an additional ton of CO2 today...
Read More »Mariana: CBDCs in Automated Market Makers
Three BIS innovation hubs plan to test DeFi inspired liquidity pools to exchange wCBDCs. BIS press release: Project Mariana will use DeFi protocols to automate foreign exchange markets and settlement. Automated market makers can become the basis for new generation of financial infrastructure. Exploration on cross-border exchange of wholesale CBDCs is the first to involve three Hub centres. The BIS Innovation Hub is launching a new project around central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)...
Read More »“Money and Banking with Reserves and CBDC,” UniBe, 2022
UniBe Discussion Paper 22-12, October 2022. PDF. We analyze retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) in a two-tier monetary system with bank deposit market power and externalities from liquidity transformation. Resource costs of liquidity provision determine the optimal monetary architecture and modified Friedman (1969) rules the optimal monetary policy. Optimal interest rates on reserves and CBDC differ. A calibration for the U.S. suggests a weak case for CBDC in the baseline but a...
Read More »“The Swiss National Bank in Brief”
PDF. Contents The SNB’s mandate Monetary policy strategy Implementation of monetary policy Ensuring the supply and distribution of cash The SNB’s role in the cashless payment system Asset management The SNB’s contribution to financial stability International monetary cooperation Independence, accountability and relationship with the Confederation The SNB as a company Legal basis Appendix Publications and other resources SNB balance sheet Addresses
Read More »Gabriel García Márquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude”
Translated by Gregory Rabassa. Goodreads rating 4.10. …the secret of a good old age is simply an honorable pact with solitude. [p. 205] … and once again she shuddered with the evidence that time was not passing, as she had just admitted, but that it was turning in a circle. [p. 341] Both looked back then on the wild revelry, the gaudy wealth, and the unbridled fornication as an annoyance and they lamented that it had cost them so much of their lives to find the paradise of shared...
Read More »Webinar on “Digital Money and Finance: What’s New?,” CEPR/SUERF/CB&DC, 2023
CEPR/SUERF/CB&DC webinar with Darrell Duffie, Todd Keister, Harald Uhlig, Dirk Niepelt. Youtube Digitisation rapidly changes money, banking and finance. Are these changes fundamental and radical—or part of a continuous process of technological progress and efficiency improvement? Do academics have to re-think money, banking and finance—or do conventional theories apply? And do finance professionals and regulators need to re-assess their frameworks and tools to keep up with the...
Read More »Digital Money and Finance: What’s New?
CEPR/SUERF/CB&DC webinar with Darrell Duffie, Todd Keister, Harald Uhlig, Dirk Niepelt. Youtube Digitisation rapidly changes money, banking and finance. Are these changes fundamental and radical—or part of a continuous process of technological progress and efficiency improvement? Do academics have to re-think money, banking and finance—or do conventional theories apply? And do finance professionals and regulators need to re-assess their frameworks and tools to keep up with the...
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