The Sound Money Project was founded in January 2009 to conduct research and promote awareness about monetary stability and financial privacy. The project is comprised of leading academics and practitioners in money, banking, and macroeconomics. It offers regular commentary and in-depth analysis on monetary policy, alternative monetary systems, financial markets regulation, cryptocurrencies, and the history of monetary and macroeconomic thought. For the latest on sound money issues, subscribe to our working paper series and follow along on Twitter or Facebook.
Advisory Board: Steve H. Hanke, Jerry L. Jordan, Gerald P. O’Driscoll, Jr., Lawrence H. White
Director: William J. Luther
Senior Fellows: Gerald P. Dwyer, Joshua R. Hendrickson, Nicolás Cachanosky, Alexander W. Salter
Fellows: Scott A. Burns, James L. Caton, Brian C. Albrecht
Contributors: J.P. Koning
Banking the Unbanked: Lessons from the Developing World
Access to financial services, or “financial inclusion,” has long been recognized as a critical step towards escaping poverty. Having a bank account enables people to protect their savings, diversify risk, lower transaction costs and access credit …
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Why Is Maduro Pushing the Petro?
Why would the Venezuelan government prefer the petro? Three reasons stand out.
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Dollarization in Ecuador after 20 Years
In January, Ecuador celebrated its 20th anniversary of dollarization. The Bastiat Society of Guayaquil and the Instituto Ecuatoriano de Economia Política organized a conference to discuss the pros and cons of Ecuador’s monetary regime. Internatio …
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The Overnight Lending Intervention That Wasn’t
Recent intervention in the overnight lending market is not precisely an intervention. In some ways, it is a dis-intervention. Viewed in terms of the net effect of activity by the Federal Reserve, the recent accumulation of repurchase agreements has onl …
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Federal Reserve as Risk Regulator: An Impossible Task
How big are the costs of various possible regulations applied to leveraged loans? No one knows. The balancing act of simply regulating leveraged loans requires knowledge that simply is not available to the Federal Reserve Board.
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Macroeconomic Inferences and the New Fed Regime
Under what conditions can we make valid inferences about the state of the economy from macroeconomic data? As it turns out, this seemingly unproblematic procedure becomes difficult when policy makers have got their eye on the data, too. This applies to …
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Why Aren’t Anti-Money-Laundering Regulations Adjusted for Inflation?
Banks and other financial institutions are required by law to implement measures for catching money launderers. Over the decades, these obligations have been getting more onerous due to new rules and the tightening of existing rules. They have also bec …
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Venmo, The Public Version
As Vice reports, New York lawmakers want to create a “public Venmo.” Venmo, which is owned by PayPal, allows users to make person-to-person payments. Under the proposal, New York State would build and operate its own Venmo-like payments platform. …
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Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner
The latest consumer price index report marks the end of a nearly seven-year bet with my dissertation advisor — a bet that I have officially won.
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The 2019 Sound Money Project Essay Contest Winners
What are the merits of returning to the gold standard? Is such a system feasible today?
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