Results for “Eric Maskin”

Thanks to monetary policy, business cycles are far less volatile today than they were in the 19th century, when we had huge swings. But if cryptocurrency takes over the way its proponents would like, we could return to the ups and downs of the pre-monetary policy era.

Nobel Prize Winning Economist & Game Theory Pioneer

I should say right away that I am very much a cryptocurrency sceptic. My judgement is that the dangers of cryptocurrencies do not outweigh the benefits. Cryptocurrency can interfere with governments' ability to fight recessions with monetary policy. When people are using privately created money rather than ordinary money, the money supply is beyond the government's control, and monetary policy can no longer be conducted.

Nobel Prize Winning Economist & Game Theory Pioneer

There are two key features of blockchain that make it, potentially, a very useful technology from an economic perspective. First, the data about transactions are posted on many public sites thus giving these data an immutability that makes disputes easy to avoid. Second, although the data are in some sense public, they can be encrypted so that a particular party learns only those aspects that she needs to know.

Nobel Prize Winning Economist & Game Theory Pioneer

Thanks to monetary policy, business cycles are far less volatile today than they were in the 19th century, when we had huge swings. But if cryptocurrency takes over the way its proponents would like, we could return to the ups and downs of the pre-monetary policy era.

Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics; Mechanism Design Theory Pioneer

Even more seriously, cryptocurrency can interfere with governments' ability to fight recessions with monetary policy. When people are using privately created money (cryptocurrency) rather than ordinary money, the money supply is beyond the government's control, and monetary policy can no longer be conducted. That's a bad thing.

Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics; Mechanism Design Theory Pioneer

With blockchain, you may not even need to bring someone to court, because the evidence is already there- on the blockchain! Producers can sell their products and services to people they don't know and need not trust—- so that expands their market.

Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics; Mechanism Design Theory Pioneer

There are two key features of blockchain that make it, potentially, a very useful technology from an economic perspective. First, the data about transactions are posted on many public sites thus giving these data an immutability that makes disputes easy to avoid. Second, although the data are in some sense public, they can be encrypted so that a particular party learns only those aspects that she needs to know.

Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics; Mechanism Design Theory Pioneer