We develop a new framework to examine the effects of retail central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) on financial inclusion and stability, particularly how the results depend on an economy's existing degree of financial development. We demonstrate that when offering CBDCs in underdeveloped...

The ongoing initiatives to offer central bank money to consumers in the form of retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) have triggered discussions on its optimal design. So far, the perspective of potential users has not been considered widely. To strengthen this perspective, we survey 2006...

Central banks around the world are examining the possibility of introducing Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The public’s preferences concerning the usage of CBDC for paying and saving are important determinants of the success of CBDC. Using data from a representative panel of Dutch...

Financial inclusion means every adult having access to fair and affordable savings, transactional banking, credit and insurance. It also requires consumers of financial services to be literate around their use. Whilst this sounds unobjectionably positive, expanding access to financial products...

This paper contributes to a better understanding of how inflation targets are set. First, we gather evidence on how inflation targets are set from official central bank and government publications and from a questionnaire of our own design. Second, we estimate the determinants of the level of...

In recent years, as a result of the financial crisis, several proposals have been put forward to restore some role for gold in the monetary system. In particular, there has been a proposal to employ gold as a nominal anchor or asset for the exchange rates between the most important and tradable...

Indian currency rupee is depreciating rapidly against the US dollar and other foreign currencies. This paper analyses the major causes of this depreciation. It also discusses its cures.

The paper establishes that sovereigns, like banks, need a lender of last resort (LoLR). In the euro area the ECB, with its estimated €3.4 trillion non-inflationary loss absorption capacity, is the only credible sovereign LoLR. The ECB/Eurosystem has been acting as sovereign LoLR through its...

The free-banking history of Switzerland is subdivided into periods with unfettered competition (1826-1881), and strict banknote regulation (1881-1907). This paper suggests that the Federal Banknote Act of 1881 was introduced to remedy the fragmentation of the unfettered-competition period,...

Although there are currently four retail central bank digital currencies in circulation, no central bank has yet issued the wholesale form of a central bank digital currency. There are good reasons to do so, however, and central banks have already conducted projects in this area. A wholesale...