Chief Economists’ workshop: the macroeconomic policy opportunities and risks associated with Central Bank Digital Currency

About the workshop

The Bank of England's Centre for Central Banking Studies (CCBS) ran the Chief Economists’ Workshop for 2021 on the macroeconomic policy risks and opportunities associated with Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). It brought together leading experts in the emerging field of CBDCs from academia, international policy institutions as well senior staff from the global central banking community. Consistent with the CCBS mission the purpose of the workshop was to add our collective stock of knowledge and catalyse further research on this emerging topic. Andrew Bailey gave welcome remarks and was followed by a keynote address from Professor Michael Bordo (Rutgers University). This paper was specifically prepared for the conference and has since been published by the NBER.  It placed CBDC in the historical context of monetary transformations being driven by changes in financial technology, changing tastes and new demands to satisfy the functions of money. The rest of the conference focussed on issues like:

• The impact of CBDC on the transmission mechanism and its potential to support monetary policy;
• The impact of CBDC on the banking sector, credit provision and more broadly financial stability;
• Practical perspectives from those implementing pilot CBDCs;
• The balance of possible opportunities and risks associated with introducing a CBDC.

The Chief Economists' Workshop is a closed event allowing for frank and open discussion and as such there is no public record or recordings available. But many of our speakers have given permission for their slides and papers to be made accessible to the rest of the world. Those are set below.  All views expressed belong to the authors only and do not represent the views of the Bank of England.

Day one

Day two

Day three