In this paper we argue that the relevant decision for the majority of US households is not the fraction of assets to be held in interest-bearing form, but whether to hold such assets at all (we call this ‘the decision to adopt’ financial technology). We show that the key variable governing...

This paper reviews the extensive theoretical and empirical literature on currency substitution. After discussing the ambiguity surrounding the definition of currency substitution, the paper illustrates the causes of substitutability of different currencies using a cash-in-advance model and a...

Do immigrants have a higher demand for large denominated banknotes than natives? This micro study examines whether banknote orders for CHF 1,000 notes, a banknote used for storage purposes, is concentrated in Swiss municipalities with a high foreign-to-native ratio. The evidence for 251 Swiss...

This paper investigates whether the quantity theory of money is still alive. We demonstrate three insights. First, for countries with low inflation, the raw relationship between average inflation and the growth rate of money is tenuous at best. Second, the fit markedly improves, when correcting...

Fundamental changes in institutions during the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy present a formidable challenge to monetary policy decision makers. For the case of China, we examine the institutional changes in the monetary system during the process of transition and...

Recent time-series evidence has reconfirmed the forecasting ability of Swiss broad money. The same money demand studies and others, however, find that the income elasticity is greater than one. Such parameter estimates are difficult to reconcile with transactions demand theory. This study...

We explore the properties of velocity in a model where agents are required by law to use money to pay taxes, but not for any other private purchases. The model is applied to Brazil between 1975 and 1990. We show that the model mimics consumption velocity very closely during the high-inflation years.

We argue that there is a connection between the interbank market for liquidity and the broader financial markets, which has its basis in demand for liquidity by banks. Tightness in the interbank market for liquidity leads banks to engage in what we term "liquidity pull-back," which involves...