The euro, the common European currency adopted in 1999, is now entering its thirddecade. The euro is unique in at least two ways. First, a large number of independentcountries, EU member states, have handed over responsibility for their monetarypolicy to an independent central bank, the European Central Bank (ECB), whilemaintaining domestic control overfiscal policy. Second, the euro, to the be…
As one of the most enduring icons of economic life, money has been a common feature and central focus in complex societies from antiquity to the present. Arguably, it gained weight as a key feature of Mediterranean economies in the course of the first millennium BC, mostly in the form of coinage. But money is more than just coin, and its significance more pervasive than just to the…
Imagine having almost instantaneous access to a permanent record of all digital transactions undertaken across the world. Without revealing precisely who and what is involved in these transactions, this digital database grants you nearly real- time overviews of peer- to-peer exchange within and across national borders. Such unprecedented capacity to monitor direct …
Money is anything that is widely accepted as a form of payment for goods and services or repayment of debts. In the limited economies of POW camps, cigarettes became money as soon as they became the accepted form of payment for rations that prisoners were exchanging. In developed economies, such as the United States, the use of commodities as money has been replaced with paper currency endorsed…
Money facilitates the billions of transactions that take place every day across the globe. Using ‘need to know’ boxes, step-by-step diagrams, and other eye-catching visuals, How Money Works shows you how this is possible. It explains economic theories, how governments raise and control money, what goes on in the stock exchange, how analysts predict where shares are heading, and many other i…
The Internet is now a powerful platformand goes beyond helping us seek information and connect with friends and loved ones. We can now earn a living through the Internet, provided we go about it the right way. There are many ways in which you can make money online, such as through affiliate marketing, setting up online shops, blogging etc. But none of them are as efficient as having a Gig on fi…
During this global acceleration, commodity prices rebounded. Copper prices, which are closely linked to the industrial cycle, increased 43 percent between October 2016 and March 2018, more than any other commodity. Oil prices increased 30 percent over the same period (figure 1.2, panel a), providing some relief for energy exporters and recipients of remittances in the eastern part of the region…
Doing well with money isn’t necessarily about what you know. It’s about how you behave. And behavior is hard to teach, even to really smart people. How to manage money, invest it, and make business decisions are typically considered to involve a lot of mathematical calculations, where data and formulae tell us exactly what to do. But in the real world, people don’t make financial decision…
Digitalisation has changed the way monetary systems work for many years already, but recently it hasstarted to change its structure more fundamentally. Developed economies rapidly reduce the importance of cash, and in some cases envisage becoming cashless entirely in the foreseeable future. At the same time digital currencies have appeared. The first wave of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, E…