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, Lawrence H. White
Director: William J. Luther
Senior Fellows: Nicolás Cachanosky, Gerald P. Dwyer, Joshua R. Hendrickson, Thomas L. Hogan, Gerald P. O’Driscoll, Jr., Alexander W. Salter
Fellows: James L. Caton, J.P. Koning
Anonymity Vouchers: An Improvement for Private Transactions
Financial anonymity is a controversial topic. It’s no wonder that central bankers, a conservative lot, tend to shy away from it. A recent paper from the European Central Bank (ECB) outlining a proof of concept for anonymous digital currency payments is …
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Negative Nominal Interest Rates: Just Say No
Not willing to let a terrible proposal die, President Trump has reiterated his suggestion that the United States would be better off with negative nominal interest rates. In a line that generated laughter, he said, “Many [in the eurozone] are actually …
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Some Questions Regarding the FedNow Project
The Federal Reserve has announced its commitment to developing its own round-the-clock real-time payments service. The FedNow Service promises to clear a transfer between U.S. banks in mere seconds — 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. At face value, this …
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Financial Services and Hate Speech
The battle over financial deplatforming isn’t going to go away. Before we act, let’s be sure we’ve thought things over.
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PayPal, Pornhub, and Financial Inclusion
While PayPal’s de-risking of PornHub is unfortunate, there are many alternative payment options available to PornHub’s content providers. Competition saves the day. For now, at least.
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Hidden Intervention: Political Motivations Driving Fed Policy
The Federal Reserve is subsidizing the Treasury. The apparent trouble in overnight markets appears to have provided an excuse to quietly reengage in the now decade-old program of support.
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The Gamification of Bitcoin
It’s possible that bitcoin-as-game will stay popular for a very long time. And if it does, that could be a good thing.
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The Ideal Money Is Global
The optimal currency area is the maximum currency area.
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Krugman’s Zombie Idea: We Owe It to Ourselves
Paul Krugman claims that the national debt doesn’t matter because “we owe it to ourselves.” This “zombie idea” is dead wrong.
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The IMF and Argentina: Same Dance, Same Results
Aid from the IMF and other organizations might even make matters worse by shielding policy makers from the consequences of their policies.
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Banking Unbanked Bitcoiners
For now, volatility and lack of user-friendliness have limited the ability of cryptocurrencies to reach the populations of unbanked and debanked.
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Nigeria’s Cash Tax Is a Bad Idea
Nigeria is one of Africa’s most influential nations. But other African countries should think twice before emulating its costly cash policy.
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