I find the glib tone taken at what is essentially a nuclear-weapons grade policy plan with nearly unbounded power for the central bank very, very disturbing. Pr

I find the glib tone taken at what is essentially a nuclear-weapons grade policy plan with nearly unbounded power for the central bank very, very disturbing. Probably more disturbing than the proposal is the idea that some staffer at the imf wrote this up believing it should have a section labeled ‘pros and cons’. Maybe the best thing I could say about it is that if it is to be tried, ideally it will be on a small scale so that the inevitable centralization and then destruction of the test region’s economy can be absorbed by the rest of the world. On a more positive note, I can report that some crypto companies have experimented with policy like this. It shouldn’t be surprising to learn that almost nobody likes it, and in general chooses to transact elsewhere. I think we can safely assume rational actors in this test region will spend at least rational and probably irrational energy to avoid such a system; nobody anywhere in the world wants money removed from their accounts by a central banker. The corollary is that this will be done only at the point of a gun. Upshot: venezuela and Zimbabwe would be envious at the speed and richness of black market economies created in the wake of implementing such a plan.