Essays & News

Prepared for the European Center of Austrian Economics Foundation’s 2023 Gottfried von Haberler Conference, “Taking Money out of Politics: A Case for Private Money?,” Vaduz, Liechtenstein, 12 May 2023. Much of the argument here is spelled out in more detail in my recently published book Better Money: Gold, Fiat, or Bitcoin? (Cambridge University Press, 2023). […]

Arguments, debates and ideas on how to end the state’s monopoly on money have been raging since Friedrich A. von Hayek brought the issue to the academic table, though it was surely a topic of fiery conversations long before that too. However, in terms of actually dethroning fiat money, real, practical progress is lacking. Nevertheless, […]

“Payments are a public good that is simply too important to be left to the market” Christine Lagarde (2022). “Money is too important to be left to central bankers” Milton Friedman (2002). Introduction Central Bank Digital Currencies are increasingly gaining attention. Although still unknown to the general public, these monetary novelties are being presented by […]

Introduction Back in the mid-1970s Friedrich Hayek dared to suggest that, if given a chance, private firms would produce better monies than governments ever have. His sensational claim encouraged others to look into past private currency arrangements, and especially into former “free banking” systems in which currency mainly consisted of redeemable paper notes issued by […]

Abstract In this paper, I discuss the benefits and dangers of dollarization. Dollarization is not only a way to control inflation with chronic monetary imbalances; it is fundamentally an institutional reform that contributes (in the margin) to checking the amount of government spending. Conversely, a poor design of a dollarization reform can facilitate the government […]