Prof. Dr. Aleksander Berentsen

Our book "Bitcoin, Blockchain, and Cryptoassets: A Comprehensive Introduction" published by MIT Press is out! 

“This terrific book lucidly explains the key components of Bitcoin and Blockchain........ If you are looking for one book on this topic, this is it.” — Harald Uhlig (University of Chicago, USA) 

An excellent discussion by Rod Garrett (University of California Santa Barbera, USA).

Aleksander Berentsen is Professor of Economics at the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Basel. His current research focus is DLT, Blockchain and Cryptoassets, and nonconventional monetary policy instruments such as negative interest rates and balance sheet extensions. He is currently a research fellow at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis used to be an external advisor for the Swiss National Bank, the ECB and the Bank for International Settlement. He publishes in top academic journals such as the American Economic Review and the Review of Economic Studies and co-authored the book "Bitcoin, Blockchain, and Cryptoassets" published by MIT-Press.

He studied at the Universities of Basel and Bern, and at the London School of Economics, and held visiting positions at the University of California in Berkeley, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Zurich, the Free University of Berlin and the Université Paris Dauphine. In his spare time, he plays tennis and renovates Riads in Marrakesh.

Publications

An Introduction to Zero-Knowledge Proofs in Blockchains and Economics, 2023.
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review.
Jeremias Lenzi and Remo Nyffenegger, University of Basel.

A unified framework for CBDC design: remuneration, collateral haircuts and quantity constraints, 2022.
ECB working paper series.
With Katrin Assenmacher, ECB, Claus Brand, ECB and Nora Lamersdorf, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.

On the Negatives of Negative Interest Rates and the Positives of Exemption Thresholds, 2022.
Working Paper.
With Hugo van Buggenum, Tilburg University and Romina Ruprecht, Unversity of Basel.

Plädoyer für den E-Euro - Implikationen für die Gesellschaft, 2021.
Working paper.

Real Estate trifft auf Blockchain: Chancen und Herausforderungen der Tokenisierung von illiquiden Vermögenswerten, 2021. 
Zeitschrift für Immobilienökonomie (ZIOE), 7, 59–80.
With Marina Markheim, University of Basel.

Peer-to-Peer Lending and Financial Inclusion with Altruistic Investors, 2021. 
International Review of Finance, Volume 21, Issue 4, 1407-1418.
With Marina Markheim, University of Basel.

Bitcoin, Blockchain, and Cryptoassets: A Comprehensive Introduction, 2020.
MIT-Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
With Fabian Schär, University of Basel.

Money, Banking and Financial Markets, 2020. 
The Review of Economic Studies, Volume 87, Issue 5, October 2020, Pages 2049–2086.
With David Andolfatto, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and Fernando Martin, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

What is the Value of Being a Superhost? Pricing and Ratings in Search Equilibrium 2019.
Working paper.
With Mariana Rojas-Breu, University Paris Dauphine, PSL and Christopher Waller, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Stablecoins: The quest for a low-volatility cryptocurrency, 2019. 
In A. Fatas (ed.), The Economics of Fintech and Digital Currencies, CEPR Press. 
With Fabian Schär, University of Basel.

Exit Strategies for Monetary Policy, 2018. 
Journal of Monetary Economics, November 2018, Pages 20-40. 
With Sébastien Kraenzlin, Swiss National Bank, and Benjamin Müller, Swiss National Bank.

The Case for Central Bank Electronic Money and the Non-case for Central Bank Cryptocurrencies, 2018. 
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, Second Quarter, 97-106.
With Fabian Schär, University of Basel.

A Short Introduction to the World of Cryptocurrencies, 2018.
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, First Quarter, 1-16.
With Fabian Schär, University of Basel.

Limited Commitment and the Demand for Money, 2018.
The Economic Journal, 128: 1128-1156.
With Samuel Huber, University of Basel, Switzerland, and Alessandro Marchesiani, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom. 

Liquidity Premiums on Government Debt and the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level, 2018. 
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Volume 89, April 2018, Pages 173-182.
With Christopher Waller, Federal Reserve Bank of St.Louis, USA.

Comments on “Frictional capital reallocation I: Ex ante heterogeneity” by R. Wright, S.X. Xiao, and Y. Zhu, 2018.
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Volume 89, April 2018, Pages 117-119. 
With Florian Madison, University of Basel.

Bitcoin, Blockchain und Kryptoassets: Eine umfassende Einführung, 2017. 
BoD Norderstedt.
With Fabian Schär, University of Basel.

Limelight on Dark Markets: Theory and Experimental Study of Liquidity and Information, 2017.
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Volume 75, February 2017, Pages 70–90.
With Michael McBride, University of California at Irvine, USA and Guillaume Rocheteau, University of California at Irvine, USA.

The Societal Benefits of a Financial Transaction Tax, 2016.
European Economic Review, Volume 89, October 2016, Pages 303-323.
With Samuel Huber, University of Basel, Switzerland, and Alessandro Marchesiani, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom.

Monetary Policy with Asset-Backed Money, 2016. 
Journal of Economic Theory, 164(July), 166–186.
With David Andolfatto, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and Simon Fraser University and Christopher Waller, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, USA.

Financial Innovations, Money Demand and the Welfare Cost of Inflation, 2015.
Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 47(2), 223-261. With Samuel Huber, University of Basel, Switzerland, and Alessandro Marchesiani, University of Liverpool. 

Optimal Stabilization Policy with Search Externalities, 2015.
Macroeconomic Dynamics, 19(3), 669-700.
With Christopher Waller, Federal Reserve Bank of St.Louis, USA.

Floor Systems for Implementing Monetary Policy: Some Unpleasant Fiscal Arithmetic, 2014. 
Review of Economic Dynamics, 17(3), 523-542.
With Alessandro Marchesiani, University of Liverpool, and Christopher Waller, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, USA.

Degreasing the Wheels of Finance, 2014.
International Economic Review, 55(3), 735-763.
With Samuel Huber, University of Basel and Alessandro Marchesiani, University of Liverpool.

Optimal Disclosure Policy and Undue Diligence, 2014.
Journal of Economic Theory, 149, 128-152.
With David Andolfatto, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and Simon Fraser University and Christopher Waller, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, USA.

Liquidity, Innovation and Growth, 2012.
Journal of Monetary Economics, 59, 721-737.
With Mariana Rojas Breu, Université Paris Dauphine, France, and Shouyong Shi, University of Toronto, Canada.

Price Level Targeting and Stabilization Policy, 2011.
Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 43(7), 559-580. 
With Christopher Waller, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, USA.

Outside Versus Inside Bonds: A Modigliani-Miller Type Result for Liquidity Constrained Households, 2011.
Journal of Economic Theory, 146, 1852–1887.
With Christopher Waller, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, USA.

Inflation and Unemployment in the Long Run, 2011. 
American Economic Review, 101(1), 371-98.
With Guido Menzio, University of Pennsylvania, USA and Randall Wright, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
additional material

Central Bank Design with Heterogeneous Agents, 2009. 
European Economic Review, 53(2), 139-152.
With Carlo Strub, University Of Basel.

Monetary Policy in a Channel System, 2008. 
Journal of Monetary Economics, 55(6), 1067-1080.
With Cyril Monnet, University of Bern, Switzerland.

Learning, Public Good Provision and the Information Trap, 2008.
Journal of Public Economics, 92, 998-1010.
With Simon Loertscher, University of Melbourne, USA and Esther Bruegger, NERA Economic Consulting, USA.

On Cheating, Doping and Whistleblowing, 2008.
European Journal of Political Economy, 24(2), 415-436.
With Simon Loertscher, University of Melbourne, USA and Esther Bruegger, NERA Economic Consulting, USA.

Friedman Meets Hosios: Efficiency in Search Models of Money, 2007.
The Economic Journal 117 (516), 174-195.
With Guillaume Rocheteau, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, USA, and Shouyong Shi, University of Toronto, Canada.

Money, Credit and Banking, 2007.
Journal of Economic Theory, 135(1), 171-195.
With Gabriele Camera, Purdue University, USA, and Christopher Waller, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, USA.

Implementing monetary policy using a corridor system, 2006.
Research Bulletin, European Central Bank, DG Research, No. 5, December 2006.
With Cyril Monnet, University of Bern, Switzerland.

On the Private Provision of Fiat Currency, 2006.
European Economic Review, 50(7), 1683-1698.

The Distribution of Money Holdings and the Non-Neutrality of Money, 2005.
International Economic Review, 46(2), 465-487. 
With Gabriele Camera, Chapman University, USA, and Christopher Waller, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, USA.

Money and Information, 2004.
Review of Economic Studies, 71, 915-944. 
With Guillaume Rocheteau, University of California at Irvine, USA.

The Distribution of Money and Prices in an Equilibrium with Lotteries, 2004. 
Economic Theory, 24(4), 887-906. 
With Gabriele Camera, Chapman University, USA, and Christopher Waller, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, USA. 
Reprinted in “Recent developments in money and finance,” G. Camera ed., 
Springer.

Fraudulent Accounting and Other Doping Games, 2004.
Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 160(3), 402-415.
With Yvan Lengwiler, University of Basel.

Money and the Gains from Trade, 2003.
International Economic Review, 44(1), 263-297. 
With Guillaume Rocheteau, Federal University of California at Irvine, USA.

On the Friedman Rule in Search Models of Money, 2003. 
B.E. Journals in Macroeconomics (Contributions to Macroeconomics), Vol. 3, Issue 1.
With Guillaume Rocheteau, University of California at Irvine, USA.

The Economics of Doping, 2002.
European Journal of Political Economy, 18(1), 109-127.

On the Distribution of Money Holdings in a Random-Matching Model, 2002. 
International Economic Review, 43(3), 945-954.

On the Efficiency of Monetary Exchange. How Divisibility of Money Matters, 2002.  
Journal of Monetary Economics, 49(8), 1621-1649. 
With Guillaume Rocheteau, University of California at Irvine, USA.

Indivisibilities, Lotteries, and Monetary Exchange, 2002.
Journal of Economic Theory, 107, 70-94.
With Miguel Molico, Bank of Canada, Canada, and Randall Wright, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.

Money in Bilateral Trade, 2002.
Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, 138(4), 489-506. 
With Guillaume Rocheteau, University of California at Irvine, USA.

Monnaie et Termes de l'échange dans les Modèles de Prospection, 2001
Revue d’Economie Politique 111 (3), 377-99. 
With Guillaume Rocheteau, University of California at Irvine, USA.

Money Inventories in Search Equilibrium, 2000.
Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, 32(2), 168-178.

Monetary Policy Implications of Digital Money: Reply to Malte Krueger, 1999. 
Kyklos (International Review of Social Science), 52(2), 263-264.

Monetary Policy Implications of Digital Money, 1998.
Kyklos (International Review of Social Sciences), 51(1), 89-117.

 

Diverses

Berentsen, Aleksander and Schär, Fabian. “Bitcoin, Blockchain und Kryptoassets: Eine umfassende Einführung.” BoD Norderstedt, 2017.

Bargeld ist in Ungnade gefallen, der Bargeldgebrauch wird weltweit eingeschränkt. Die Kritik basiert auf drei Punkten: Erstens sei die Verwendung von Bargeld ineffizient. Bargeld erleichtere zweitens Kriminalität, Geldwäsche und Steuerhinterziehung. Und zu guter Letzt behindere es die Geldpolitik. Im Artikel the fallacy of a cashless society (also cash and negative interest rates) werden diese Argumente widerlegt.

Cash on Trial
by Aleksander Berentsen & Nicole Jonker & Malte Krueger & Harry Leinonen & Katharina Linsbauer & Nikos Passas & Fabian Schär & Friederich SchneiderPaolo Tasca & Jens Ulbrich
edited by Christian Beer & Ernest Gnan & Urs W. Birchler

EconomicDynamics Interview: Aleksander Berentsen on Cryptocurrencies, 2018.

[Translate to English:] Aleksander Berentsen

Prof. Dr. Aleksander Berentsen
Büro 4.52 Economic Theory
Faculty of Business and Economics
Peter Merian-Weg 6 Postfach 4002 Basel
Switzerland

Tel: +41 61 207 12 05