Suchergebnisse

AbstractThe entry of Big Techs in the financial ecosystem might affect financial stability, among others through the opportunities and challenges they create for financial inclusion. We survey the literature to determine the effectiveness of financial education in improving financial literacy and inclusion and assess the impact of financial inclusion on financial stability. We argue for new research to determine whether financial education can help people to reap the financial‐inclusion benefits that Big Tech may bring. We also conclude that financial‐inclusion opportunities created by Big Tech might introduce financial stability risks and underline the importance of proper supervision and regulation.

From the stated price of a specified lottery in three unrelated surveys we deduce individuals' Arrow‐Pratt measure of risk aversion. We find that risk aversion indeed falls with income and wealth. Entrepreneurs are less risk averse than employees, civil servants are more risk averse than private sector employees, and women are more risk averse than men. A simple lottery question appears a promising survey instrument to explore risk attitude and its relation to personal characteristics.

Over millennia, mankind has used hard cash in various forms ranging from shells to gold coins and paper. More recently, cash has become unpopular in political circles, as it effectively restricts states' power to tax (explicitly or via negative interest rates) or to survey and potentially control their citizens. Several states have enacted restrictions to the use of hard cash. Above all, a strong new competitor to cash has arisen in the form of various electronic means of payment. Are we heading towards a society in which 'coined freedom' (Dostojewski) will cease to exist? Under this provocative 'motto' SUERF organised a combined evening event (in German at the University of Zurich) and one-day conference (in English at the theatre 'Millers' in Zurich) to take stock of the arguments brought forward in the current debate on the pros and cons and, more generally, the future of cash.