1. The Legitimacy of Central Banking

Abstract

Government bailouts. Negative interest rates and markets that do not behave as economic models tell us they should. New populist and nationalist movements that target central banks and central bankers as a source of popular malaise. New regional organizations and geopolitical alignments laying claim to authority over the global economy. Bitcoin, cell phone banking, and other new forms of money and payment systems that challenge the authority of national currencies. Low confidence in conventional currencies and the state institutions behind them. House holds, consumers, and workers facing increasingly intolerable levels of in equality. New risks associated with the financial health