We consider the debut of a new monetary instrument, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Drawing on examples from monetary history, we argue that a successful monetary transformation must combine microeconomic efficiency with macroeconomic credibility. A paradoxical feature of these...

This paper examines the origins and early performance of the Federal Reserve as lender of last resort. The Fed was established to overcome the problems of the National Banking era, in particular an "inelastic" currency and the absence of an effective lender of last resort. As conceived by Paul...

The global financial crisis (GFC) of 2007-2008 led to a call for central banks to elevate their financial stability mandate to the same level as their price stability mandate. It also led to a call for central banks to use their monetary policy tools as well as the tools of macro prudential...