FINANCE

 “Central bank digital currencies risk becoming a gigantic flop“. Central bank digital currencies are increasingly being discussed, mainly in relation to monetary policy and financial stability, but with less focus on their fundamentals. This column provides a comprehensive taxonomy for categorising central bank digital currency design options, and evaluates these options based on their allocative efficiency and attractiveness for users.

 “How crisis-proof are financial market infrastructures?“. The pandemic has caused unprecedented volatility in the financial markets. The corporate sector has been hit by supply disruptions and weak demand. Amid such turbulence, providers of infrastructure services for financial markets are vital to providing robust and stable platforms and operations as well as timely information to allow for efficient transactions.

 “Digging for gold: How regulatory sandboxes help fintechs raise funding“. The rapid growth of innovative companies that use new technology has the potential to transform the financial sector fundamentally. This column shows that regulatory sandboxes represents a prominent and widely adopted regulatory tool to spur innovation in the financial sector.

 “Robot census: Gathering data to improve policymaking on new technologies“. There is understandable excitement about the impact that new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics will have on our economy. In our everyday lives, we already see the benefits of these technologies. At the same time, there are concerns about possible negative effects of these new technologies on labor.

 “The European Commission Digital Markets Act: A translation“. The European Commission has finally issued the proposed Digital Markets Act, its bid to complement antitrust intervention in digital markets with ex-ante regulation in the form of a set of obligations that platforms identified as “gatekeepers” should abide by.

 “The nonsense of Next Generation EU net balance calculations“. Estimates of payments countries will receive from the Next Generation EU instrument can be made with some degree of precision. But estimating countries’ repayments up to 2058 is extremely difficult.

 “Anti-Money Laundering in the EU“. Banks and other ‘obliged entities’ complete thousands of suspicious transactions reports on a daily basis yet only a handful are followed up on by financial intelligence units (FIUs). This could be due to lack of capability, capacity or even political direction. This report sets out the following key recommendations for a new approach to the fight against money laundering.

 “The impact of COVID-19 childcare closures and women’s labour supply“. This column reviews current research on the disproportionate effects these closures have had on mothers of young children. The findings suggest that these closures ordered to curb the spread of COVID-19 may have long-lasting and persistent effects on women, even after the pandemic subsides.