Christian de Boissieu’s latest book, written with Marc Schwartz, is a timely response to the questions that enlightened citizens are asking about the so-called “unconventional” strategies that have been adopted by central banks in the face of the 2007-2010 financial crisis, the 2020-2021 pandemic, and the Ukrainian and Israeli-Palestinian wars since 2022. These events have revealed the multiple economic, socio-political and institutional dimensions of money. As is well known, money is an instrument of measurement, transaction and reserve, but it is also a common good and a coveted factor of sovereignty and power. The authors acknowledge the innovative and generally appropriate nature of the measures taken by central banks, but they deplore the lack of coordination on monetary matters between states, central banks and international financial institutions.
The authors also analyze the reasons behind the resistance of cash to digital currencies, attributing it in particular to socio-cultural biases. They question the monetary or speculative nature of crypto-assets and the possible causes and effects of the adoption of central bank digital currencies. They question the current movement of de-dollarization of world trade and explore its possible long-term scenarios. They try to anticipate the outcome of the emerging war between public and private currencies. Finally, they endeavor to quantify and instrumentalize the financial effort to be made to ensure the energy and environmental transition.
The book attests to the authors’ great mastery of one of the most complex and fundamental current economic issues. They draw their sources from their experiences and from the best scientific work on monetary economics.
Christian de Boissieu is Professor Emeritus at the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne and Marc Schwartz is CEO of the Monnaie de Paris.
note by J-J.Pluchart
