This book presents contributions by leading academics and practitioners from central banks to shed light on the function and impact of cash in Asian countries. It explores the impact of cash on society, the role of cash in monetary policy, and the future of cash in various monetary systems, contrasting case studies from China, Japan, Korea, and Singapore with experiences from Europe.
Recently the role of cash in the economy has become a much-discussed topic in Europe, but the issue is also of considerable relevance in Asia. Singapore and South Korea, for example, are relatively advanced in the use of cashless payments for daily exchanges, while countries like Japan still largely rely on cash for a wide range of transactions. Some economists argue for the abolition of cash so as to facilitate transactions, reduce the monetary scope of criminal transactions, and expand the available options for monetary policy through negative interest rates. Opposing voices claim that such a step would reduce the freedom of individuals and lead to a greater potential for monetary repression. The abolition of cash could also significantly impact the public’s monetary psychology, thereby influencing their inflation expectations, portfolio structure, saving behavior, and other important monetary parameters.
Prof. Dr. Frank Rövekamp is a professor for Asian Studies with a focus on Japan and director of the East Asia Institute of the Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences. Formerly he worked for over 15 years in industry and held senior management positions in Germany, Japan and Hong Kong. He obtained his PhD in Business Studies from the University of Cologne. His current research interests include international monetary, currency and trade policy.
Prof. Dr. Moritz Bälz, LL.M. (Harvard) is a professor of Japanese Law and its Cultural Foundations at the Faculty of Law and director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for East Asian Studies (IZO) of Goethe University Frankfurt. Prior to assuming his current position in 2008, he worked for several years as an attorney with the international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in New York and Frankfurt. His research focuses on Japanese business law from a comparative perspective and dispute resolution in Japan.
Dr. Hanns Günther Hilpert is the Head of the Asia Division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (“Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik”, SWP), Berlin. Formerly he worked for the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ), Tokyo and the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, Munich. He has written and published several books and articles on the Japanese economy and on Asian trade and economic integration. His current research focuses on various policy-oriented economic issues of East Asia.
