Monthly Archives: July 2017

The Office for Budget Responsibility’s Fiscal Risks Report

This is a new product.  It’s a tour de force, ranging from obscure line items on government finances, to some philosophising about the nature of uncertainty. But it is not beyond criticism.  This post pulls together tweets I sent last … Continue reading

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More crypto monetary dystopia: political fall-out of a partial take-over

Writing a serialised monetary policy dystopia seems to be a good way to thin out your readership, but I am going to plough on regardless. In the event of a partial take-over of a cryptocurrency, politics in the state may … Continue reading

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Central bank policy in the face of a crypto take-over

Continuing the dystopian theme – at least dystopian from the perspective of the fiat currency issuer – a partial take-over by a borderless cryptocurrency will pose interesting questions for central bank monetary policy. For starters, it will introduce a motive … Continue reading

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Crypto-currencies and the vestigial states they plunder

That headline was a bit strong. But a thought.  In a previous post on Alphaville I wrote about how the currency area that a private sector cryptocurrency created would be undesirable.  That was because it would likely straddle national borders, … Continue reading

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Accounts at the central bank: technical policy choice, or a right?

A simple point made to me recently at a talk on digital currencies is this.  There will come a point when comprehension that offering digital accounts with the central bank is possible becomes widespread.  Then, the discussion about whether it … Continue reading

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