The Future of Money
How the Digital Revolution Is Transforming Currencies and Finance
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- 33,99 €
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- 33,99 €
Publisher Description
An Economist Best Book of the Year
A Financial Times Best Book of the Year
A Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year
A ProMarket Best Political Economy Book of the Year
One of The Week’s Ten Best Business Books of the Year
A cutting-edge look at how accelerating financial change, from the end of cash to the rise of cryptocurrencies, will transform economies for better and worse.
We think we’ve seen financial innovation. We bank from laptops and buy coffee with the wave of a phone. But these are minor miracles compared with the dizzying experiments now underway around the globe, as businesses and governments alike embrace the possibilities of new financial technologies. As Eswar Prasad explains, the world of finance is at the threshold of major disruption that will affect corporations, bankers, states, and indeed all of us. The transformation of money will fundamentally rewrite how ordinary people live.
Above all, Prasad foresees the end of physical cash. The driving force won’t be phones or credit cards but rather central banks, spurred by the emergence of cryptocurrencies to develop their own, more stable digital currencies. Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies themselves will evolve unpredictably as global corporations like Meta and Amazon join the game. The changes will be accompanied by snowballing innovations that are reshaping finance and have already begun to revolutionize how we invest, trade, insure, and manage risk.
Prasad shows how these and other changes will redefine the very concept of money, unbundling its traditional functions as a unit of account, medium of exchange, and store of value. The promise lies in greater efficiency and flexibility, increased sensitivity to the needs of diverse consumers, and improved market access for the unbanked. The risk is instability, lack of accountability, and erosion of privacy. A lucid, visionary work, The Future of Money shows how to maximize the best and guard against the worst of what is to come.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Economist Prasad (The Dollar Trap) evaluates the potential of digital currencies and other financial technologies in this evenhanded account. Prasad believes it's likely that physical currency will eventually be replaced by digital currencies, but argues that, without changes, neither the current, convoluted web of financial technology used by central banks, nor cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, can guarantee economic sovereignty, increase access to finance, or reduce corruption. He runs through case studies of countries, including China, Ecuador, and Sweden whose central banks have experimented with issuing "digital versions of their official currencies," and discusses the potential impact of cryptocurrencies issued by companies such as Amazon and Facebook. Though proponents of cryptocurrencies argue that they might lead to a future with a one-world currency that could break the dominance of the dollar in international trade, Prasad casts doubt on the argument that a decline in cash usage might lead to a reduction in crime, and points out that regulatory agencies are ill-equipped to deal with "new and nontraditional financial platforms." Marked by a refreshing absence of economic jargon and Prasad's advocacy for a more equitable world, this is a sober-minded and informative take on an overheated topic.
