Central banks around the world have implemented extensive measures to alleviate the effects of the corona pandemic on the economy. Many of the measures involve creating large volumes of new money. But how is money created and who ends up holding it? In this commentary, we explain how money is...

There is much in our increasingly digitized economies to suggest that the use of cash should fall. However, in almost all countries, it is constant or rising with a few notable exceptions. Sweden, in particular, displays a divergent development. In this paper, we explore the drivers behind this...

In this article, we discuss potential implications of an e-krona for the conduct of monetary policy and for macroeconomic developments in general. We argue that a universally accessible, non-interest-bearing e-krona supplied according to demand would establish a zero interest-rate floor for the...

In this article, we analyse the advantages and disadvantages of different ways of formulating inflation targets that involve an interval. We first review the international debate of ten to fifteen years ago on how an inflation target should best be designed. We then discuss the arguments in the...

Most developed countries that conduct inflation targeting have chosen a target level at or close to 2 per cent. Recently, an international debate has arisen on whether this level should be increased. In this article, we review both the arguments in the more policy-oriented debate on the level of...

How do monetary policy committee (MPC) members form their views about the appropriate interest rate? To what extent do they change their minds during the deliberations in the interest rate meeting? How important is the Chairman? The theoretical literature makes assumptions about these issues. We...

Modern central banks do not only announce the interest rate decision, they also communicate a "story" that explains why they reached the particular decision. When decisions are made by a committee, it could be difficult to find a story that is both consistent with the decision and representative...

How do monetary policy committee (MPC) members form their views about the appropriate interest rate? To what extent do they change their minds during the deliberations in the interest rate meeting? How important is the Chairman? The theoretical literature makes assumptions about these issues. We...

This paper reports and analyzes the results from a questionnaire sent to all present and former members of the Riksbank’s Executive Board, the monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Swedish central bank. The questions cover a number of issues discussed in the growing literature on monetary...