“A brilliant and lucid new book” (John Lanchester, New York Times Magazine) about why paper money and digital currencies lie at the heart of many of the world’s most difficult problems—and their solutions In The Curse of Cash, acclaimed economist and bestselling author Kenneth Rogoff explores the past, present, and future of currency, showing why, contrary to conventional economic wisdom, the regulation of paper bills—and now digital currencies—lies at the heart some of the world’s most difficult problems, but also their potential solutions. When it comes to currency, history shows that the private sector often innovates but eventually the government regulates and appropriates. Using examples ranging from the history of standardized coinage to the development of paper money, Rogoff explains why the cryptocurrency boom will inevitably end with dominant digital currencies created and controlled by governments, regardless of what Bitcoin libertarians want. Advanced countries still urgently need to stem the global flood of large paper bills—the vast majority of which serve no legitimate purpose and only enable tax evasion and other crimes—but cryptocurrencies are like $100 bills on steroids. The Curse of Cash is filled with revealing insights about many of the most pressing issues facing monetary policymakers, from quantitative easing to alternative inflation targeting regimes. It also explains in detail why, if low interest rates persist, the best way to reinvigorate monetary policy is to implement fully effective and unconstrained negative interest rates. Provocative, engaging, and backed by compelling original arguments and evidence, The Curse of Cash has sparked widespread debate and its ideas have moved to the center of financial and policy discussions.

In his recent book, The Curse of Cash, Ken Rogoff makes the case for getting rid of hand-to-hand currency. The argument is relatively straightforward. Cash, according to Rogoff, is largely used to buy and sell illegal goods and services and evade taxes. It also places a lower bound on interest rates, thereby limiting the extent to which the monetary authority can prevent recessions. As such, he argues, we'd be better off without it. Rogoff's work is subtle and sophisticated. He anticipates many counterarguments and heads them off to the extent possible. Nonetheless, I find three major shortcomings in the work: the evidence on the extent to which cash is employed by criminals and tax cheats is flimsy, the net benefits of eliminating crime and tax evasion are overstated, and it is not clear that cash prevents the central bank from conducting effective monetary policy.

The Curse of Cash offers a plan for phasing out most paper money while leaving small-denomination bills and coins in circulation indefinitely and addresses the issues the transition will pose, ranging from fears about privacy and price stability to the need to provide subsidized debit cards for the poor.While phasing out the bulk of paper money will hardly solve the world's problems, it would be a significant step toward addressing a surprising number of very big ones. Provocative, engaging, and backed by compelling original arguments and evidence, The Curse of Cash is certain to spark widespread debate

Self-storage entrepreneur Stanly Patterson is a womanizer who never thinks that his grass is green enough, that his car is fl ashy enough, or that his business is successful enough. His passion for his wife, Toya, is alive and well, but he just cant seem to stay faithful to her. As he carelessly moves from one affair to another, he has no idea that his deceitful ways are about to catch up with him. After his wifes cousin, Missy, catches him with one of his many flings and tells Toya, she promptly moves out, triggering Stanly to drown his sorrows in a bottle, crash his Mercedes in a ditch, and spend the night in county jail. Desperate to rekindle his marriage, Stanly books a trip to Jamaica with Toya, who is clueless that Stanly has a secret motiveto place a voodoo curse on her cousin, Missy. But after he visits a fly- by-night voodoo master, one bad thing after another happens to him; Stanly soon realizes that he is the victim of his own vengeful ways. The Curse of Money, Sex, and Life shares the tale of one mans dangerous journey to mend his ways and take his life backbefore it is too late.

The only "lottery curse" is the curse of stupidity, they say money can't buy happiness, then you do not know where to shop or how to budget. It's been said that if all of the wealth of the world were divided evenly among all people in a few short years, the one with the most wealth before the divide would be wealthy again, and the poor would be deprived still. Wealth is a mindset, not the amount of money. Money doesn't make a person miserable it's the actions of the person with the money that makes them unhappy.