Public inquiry required for a decision It is clear just from this short review that the introduction of an e-krona could have major consequences for both monetary policy and society as a whole. On the other hand, as I have also pointed out, it would involve a major change in a historical perspective if the Riksbank no longer issued any state-backed means of payment that can be held by the general public. Considering how economically important the issue is, the Riksbank cannot take the decision on its own as to whether an e-krona should be introduced and, if so, in what form. It is a decision that must have substantial political support and where parallels can be drawn with the changes in the payment system in 1809 and 1904 that I mentioned earlier. 26 Some economists see a more negative interest rate as the best solution to create room for manoeuvre for monetary policy in a world of very low neutral interest rates, like today – better than, for example, increasing central bank inflation targets. This, it is thought, could work even if there is still physical cash by creating an exchange rate between physical cash and e-money and steering it, see for instance Rogoff (2017) and Lilley and Rogoff (2019). 13 [21]  In May this year, the Riksbank therefore submitted a petition to the Riksdag on the need for a public inquiry into the future payment market.
Krugman, Paul (2014), “Inflation Targets Reconsidered”, essay presented at the ECB Sintra conference, May. Lilley, Andrew and Kenneth Rogoff (2019), “The Case for Implementing Effective Negative Interest Rate Policy”, essay presented at “Strategies For Monetary Policy: A Policy Conference”, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University, May 4, 2019. Lindbeck Assar, Per Molander, Torsten Persson, Olof Petersson, Agnar Sandmo, Birgitta Swedenborg and Niels Thygesen (1994), Turning Sweden Around, MIT Press. Nyberg, Lars (2005), House price developments and monetary policy. Speech at Evli Bank, Stockholm, 19 December. Sveriges Riksbank. Petri, Gunnar (2017), Hans Järta – En biografi [Hans Järta – A biography] (In Swedish) Historiska Media, Lund. Quarles, Randal K. (2019), “Monetary policy and financial stability,” remarks at “Developments in Empirical Macroeconomics”, a research conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Washington, D.C. Rogoff, Kenneth (2017), “Dealing with Monetary Paralysis at the Zero Bound”, Journal of Economic Perspectives 31(3), pp. 47-66. Rosengren, Eric S. (2015), “Changing economic relationships: Implications for monetary policy and simple monetary policy rules”, speech on 16 April, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. 17 [21]  Svensson, Lars E. O. (2017), “Cost-benefit analysis of leaning against the wind”, Journal of Monetary Economics 90, pp. 193-213. Sveriges Riksbank (2017), “The Riksbank’s e-krona project”, Report 1, September 2017. Sveriges Riksbank (2018a), “Account of monetary policy 2018”, Sveriges Riksbank. Sveriges Riksbank (2018b), “The Riksbank’s e-krona project”, Report 2, October 2018. Sveriges Riksdag (1897) Riksdag minutes, Second Chamber, No. 30, Saturday 24 April.