MONEY, TRANSFORMED

Point of View: Going Cashless

Stefan Ingves

The governor of the world’s oldest central bank discusses his country’s shift toward digital money

Monetary Policy in the Digital Age

Dong He

Crypto assets may one day reduce demand for central bank money

Lucre’s Allure

Harold James

Throughout time, new currency has been associated with mystical qualities, and Bitcoin is no exception

A Short History of Crypto Euphoria

Andreas Adriano

An eminent economist’s taxonomy of bubbles is applied to the latest financial
fad

The Industrialization of Cybercrime

Tamas Gaidosch

Lone-wolf hackers yield to mature businesses

Land of the Rising Robots

Todd Schneider, Gee Hee Hong, and Anh Van Le

Japan’s combination of artificial intelligence and robotics may be the answer to its rapidly shrinking labor
force

Building Taller Ladders

Joel Mokyr

Technology and science reinforce each other to take the global economy ever higher

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Growth or Inclusion?

Jonathan Ostry

With the right policies, countries can pursue both objectives

Epidemics and Economics

Epidemics and Economics

David E. Bloom, Daniel Cadarette, and JP Sevilla

New and resurgent infectious diseases can have far-reaching economic
repercussions

Piercing the Veil

Jannick Damgaard, Thomas Elkjaer, and Niels Johannesen

Some $12 trillion worldwide is just phantom corporate investment

Mind the Gap

Axrt

Ann Mari May, David Kucera, and Mary G. McGarvey

Differing perspectives of men and women economists may affect policy outcomes

Editor's Letter

Our Digital Future

In the past few years, financial technology—fintech for short—has caught the world’s imagination by offering alternatives to traditional means of payment. Will digitalization redefine money? We explore the possible consequences, good and bad.

Straight Talk

A Regulatory Approach to Fintech

Christine Lagarde

Christine Lagarde

We must guard against emerging risks without stifling innovation

In the Trenches

A Market, Unified

Arvind Subramanian explains the advantages of a new tax for India’s economy and budget

Arvind Subramanian: A Market, Unified

Currency Notes

Striking the Right Note

Tadeusz Galeza and James Chan

An inside look at paper money around the world

Book Reviews

Last Resort: The Financial Crisis and the Future of Bailouts, The Infinite Desire for Growth, Daniel Cohen

Calculated Values: Finance, Politics, and the Quantitative Age, William Deringer

Resurgent Indonesia: From Crisis to Confidence, Vasuki Shastry