Can’t we just print more money?

Book Review: Rupal Patel and Jack Meaning, ‘Can’t we just print more money – Economics in ten simple questions’, Cornerstone Press, London, May 2022.

The facade of the Bank of England. Edited from a photo by Samuel Regan-Asante on Unsplash

Introduction

The Bank of England is the first central bank to carry out the set of functions which are today associated with a central bank. It is not the oldest, an honour which goes to the Riksbank established in 1668. After its establishment in 1694 as an issuer of currency and as a government bank, the Bank of England started adding functions over the years. It was only in the second half of the 19th century, when it became a lender of last resort, that the Bank of England came to be acknowledged and regarded as a central bank. Continue reading “Can’t we just print more money?”

CBDC and the Future of Money

My review of Eswar Prasad’s new book on fintech, cryptos, and CBDC: Future of Money: How the Digital Revolution is Transforming Currencies and Finance

Contents

Introduction
Fintech
Crypto Mania
Regulatory Concerns
Central Bank Concerns
National Responses
Central Bank Digital Currency
Relevance of CBDC
Critique of CBDC
CBDC and EMEs
Whether CBDC and when
Designing CBDC
Current status of CBDC and lessons
Impact on cash
Impact on dollar
Global currency
CBDC in India
Conclusion
Postscript

Introduction

Future of Money

William Stanley Jevons started his career as an assayer in a mint in Sydney. In 1855, sending money to his father, Jevons wrote:

“I must say the money has given me very little satisfaction, except that of sending it home. Whether in the bank or in your pocket I find £100 like a very disagreeable weight on the mind, so I shall be very glad when it is off my hands, though I hope safe in yours.”

Harriet A. Jevons, ed., Letters and Journal of W. Stanley Jevons, p. 52

In 1875, as a professor of ‘political economy,’ Jevons laid down the functions of money in Money and the Mechanism of Exchange. These are unit of account, store of value, and medium of exchange. Money combined these functions performed earlier by different objects. Even today, it remains a useful framework for assessing currencies. Continue reading “CBDC and the Future of Money”

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