Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) has become a major policy interest among global central banks. However, its introduction faces many challenges including those that are legal, technological and political in nature. In this paper, we summarize those challenges and add a few more that have not...

Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) has attracted considerable interest and its deployment on a global scale is imminent. However, digital currencies face several challenges. They include: legal, technological, and political considerations. We summarize those challenges and add a few more that...

This paper examines the monetary policy transmission mechanism in four systemically important economies. The impact of monetary policy is found to be broadly comparable for China, the US, the Eurozone, and Japan. Identifying a role for the financial sector is essential to unpacking various...

This paper reconsiders the narratives surrounding Japan's economic performance since the 1980s in relation to the experiences of the U.S. and the Eurozone. There are important differences between these three economies and some striking parallels. It is found that the poor reputation of the Bank...

For the first time since the 1930s, deflation in both goods and asset prices poses as much, or more, of a threat than does inflation. In this paper we explore public and policy maker perceptions and reactions to deflation covering the period from the late 19th century until the present. We also...

Changes in interest rates, inflation, and exchange rates are the main components of macroeconomic risks (financial risks) in projects evaluation. However, the conduct of monetary policy as well as its impact on the economic environment is seldom considered as an important component of...

Post-1990 Chinese monetary policy is modeled with an augmented McCallum-type rule that takes into account the People's Bank of China's emphasis on targeting the rate of money supply growth. People's Bank policy appears responsive to the gap between target and actual nominal GDP as well as to...

We evaluate monetary policy divergence in the G4. A Taylor rule is extended that admits a global element and also allows for unconventional monetary policy to be reflected in a shadow policy rate. We propose a policy divergence index based on observed, fitted, or shadow policy rates but which...

This paper argues that a measure of lending conditions - Senior Loan Officer (SLO) surveys - offers important insights into the monetary transmission mechanism. Using a Global VAR (GVAR) and SLO survey data from 16 countries, we document bank lending standards' significant role in explaining the...

In this paper we provide an estimate of the likelihood of conflict between the federal government and the Bundesbank for the 1989 - 1998 period. We rely on a novel proxy for the impact of public communication by Bundesbank officials on the probability of conflict, in addition to interest rate,...