This paper analyses the issue of the dynamics of the TARGET2 system balances during the sovereign debt crisis, when some countries registered a decisive inflow of the central bank liquidity and others showed an outflow. The dynamics in the TARGET2 are here explained as being due to a fall in the...

This essay explores the evolution of my thinking on risky emergency lending to banks and non-banks. The Fed is now, in the Pandemic, engaging in lending with significant credit risk. While it appears these are Fed programs, in fact this lending is controlled by, and may be largely determined, by...

After introducing digital currency, the central bank emerges as a monopolist bank. It then faces an "impossible trinity". To achieve price stability and financial stability, optimal consumption allocation is sacrificed. In this paper, I show that fiscal policy designed in coordination with the...

This paper reviews the performance of the euro area since the euro's launch 20 years ago. It argues that the euro crisis has exposed existential flaws in the euro regime. Intra-area divergences and the corresponding buildup of imbalances had remained unchecked prior to the crisis. As those...

The euro crisis remains unresolved even as financial markets may seem calm for now. The current euro regime is inherently flawed, and recent reforms have failed to turn this dysfunctional regime into a viable one. Our investigation is informed by the "cartalist" critique of traditional "optimum...