Imagine a world in which: you make all of your purchases without ever handling currency - bills or coins - or even writing checks; most money is issued privately and digitally, rather than by governments; inflation is largely a relic of the past; you choose which transactions you wish to be on record and which you wish to be anonymous. This world is not science fiction, but the world that increasing numbers of people will come to enjoy over the next couple of decades, according to the new book, The end of Money, by Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Richard W. Rahn.
Technology has fast outpaced governments' ability to maintain control of electronic finance. Advances in fiberoptics, encryption, and smart-card technologies make it ever easier to transfer funds from one person to another anywhere around the globe almost instantaneously, and without the use of paper and coins. Global financial networks and systems allow any asset whose value is recognized and guaranteed by a reliable financial institution to be instantly transferred from one person to another.
Private institutions are already developing "digital dollars" that will someday reduce transaction costs and monetary instability, thus leading to grater economic efficiency and higher standards of living. Unfortunately, this new world f digital money is fiercely resisted by many government officials. The full benefits of digital money will not be realized unless people are left free to move their financial assets around the globe in a private fashion.
Richard W. Rahn, Senior Fellow of the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, is founder of the Novecon companies whose products range from advanced semiconductor substrates and devices to international financial services.
He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1972, taught in several graduate schools and served as head of the graduate Department of Management of the Polytechnic University of New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President and Chief Economist of the US Chamber of Commerce, helping to shape important tax reforms of that decade. He served as an economic advisor to US and foreign government officials and coordinated several economic transition teams in Eastern Europe.
Dr. Rahn is a frequent commentator on economic issues in the news media and has testified before the US Congress on tax and economic policy issues more than seventy-five times.
He works in Washington, D.C. and lives in Northern Virginia. In addition to his business role and Discovery Institute position, he serves as an adjunct scholar of Cato Institute and an adjunct fellow of Hudson Institute.
