Itai Agur

Last Updated: June 16, 2023

Itai Agur

Itai Agur is a Senior Economist at the Macro-Financial Division of the IMF's Research Department. His research interests include fintech, macroprudential regulation, and monetary policy.

Email: IAGUR@imf.org

Personal WebPage: https://itaiagur.weebly.com

Fluent In: Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Spanish.

Education:

European University Institute, PhD

University of Amsterdam, MSc & BSc


Previous Experience:

Dutch Central Bank (2008-2011)

European Central Bank (2003-2004)


Editorial Activities:

IMF Economic Review, Associate Editor.


Awards and Honors:

The European Economic Association's Young Economist Award, 2007.

The Arrow Award for Young Economists, 2008


Country work or Mission Assignment:

Mongolia (2016-17)

Canada (2015-16)


Teaching:

IMF courses taught in Fiji, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam (2011-2015)


IMF Career:

Research Department (2018 - )

Strategy, Policy and Review Department (2015-2017)

Singapore Regional Training Institute (2011-2015)


Others:

Fintech (additional field of expertise)


Field of Expertise:

Monetary Policy

Banking

Macro-Financial Issues

IMF Books and Working Papers:

Bank Competition and Household Privacy in a Digital Payment Monopoly , Working Paper No. 2023/121 , June 09, 2023

Digital Currencies and Energy Consumption , FinTech Notes No 2022/006 , June 07, 2022

Monetary Finance: Do Not Touch, or Handle with Care? , Departmental Paper No 2022/001 , January 13, 2022

Politically Robust Financial Regulation , Working Paper No. 2021/001 , January 08, 2021

Managing External Volatility: Policy Frameworks in Non-Reserve Issuing Economies , Working Paper No. 2020/288 , December 18, 2020

Designing Central Bank Digital Currencies , Working Paper No. 19/252 , November 18, 2019

Casting Light on Central Bank Digital Currencies , Staff Discussion Notes No. 18/08 , November 13, 2018

Monetary and Macroprudential Policy Coordination Among Multiple Equilibria , Working Paper No. 18/235 , November 02, 2018

On International Integration of Emerging Sovereign Bond Markets , Working Paper No. 18/18 , January 24, 2018

Products and Provinces : A Disaggregated Panel Analysis of Canada’s Manufacturing Exports , Working Paper No. 16/193 , September 26, 2016

Products and Provinces : A Disaggregated Panel Analysis of Canada’s Manufacturing Exports , Working Paper No. 16/193 , September 26, 2016

Will Macroprudential Policy Counteract Monetary Policy’s Effects on Financial Stability? , Working Paper No. 15/283 , December 29, 2015

Bank Risk Within and Across Equilibria , Working Paper No. 14/116 , July 02, 2014

Leaning Against the Wind and the Timing of Monetary Policy , Working Paper No. 13/86 , April 03, 2013

Rules, Discretion, and Macro-Prudential Policy , Working Paper No. 13/65 , March 08, 2013

Wholesale Bank Funding, Capital Requirements and Credit Rationing , Working Paper No. 13/30 , January 31, 2013

IMF Country Reports

Canada 2016 Article IV Consultation, Staff Report.

Mongolia 2017 Article IV Consultation, Staff Report.

IMF Occasional Papers, Pamphlets, and Special Issues Papers

IMF Approach to Central Bank Digital Currency Capacity Development (2023). IMF Policy Paper No. 2023/016.

Elements of Effective Policies for Crypto Assets (2023). IMF Policy Paper 2023/004.

Digital Currencies and Energy Consumption (2022). IMF Fintech Notes 2022/006.

Monetary Finance: Do Not Touch, or Handle with Care? (2022) IMF Departmental Paper 2022/001

Lighting the Path to Recovery. IMF Research Perspectives issue on COVID (Guest Editor), January 2021.

Digital Money Across Borders: Macro-Financial Implications (2020). IMF Policy Paper 2020/050.

Strengthening the International Monetary System - A Stocktaking (2016) (with a large group of co-authors). IMF Policy Paper.

iMFdirect Blog Posts

How Crypto and CBDCs Can Use Less Energy Than Existing Payment Systems

Should Monetary Finance Remain Taboo?

Selected Issue

Digital Financial Services and the Pandemic: Opportunities and Risks for Emerging and Developing Economies (2020) IMF Special Series on COVID-19.

Other Published Materials

IMF-FSB Synthesis Paper: Policies for Crypto-Assets (2023)

G-20 Report, Macrofinancial Implications of Crypto Assets (2023) (based on IMF Policy Paper 2023/004)

Publications in Journals (Refereed)

Government Finance by Central Banks and Inflation Expectations at the Onset of the COVID Pandemic (2024) Applied Economics Letters 31(2), 107-112.

Lessons from Crypto Assets for the Design of Energy Efficient Digital Currencies (2023) Ecological Economics 212, 107888.

Measuring the Speed of Currency Substitution (2023) Applied Economics Letters 30(10), 1385–1389.

Designing Central Bank Digital Currencies (2022) (with Anil Ari and Giovanni Dell'Ariccia) Journal of Monetary Economics 125, 62-79.

Managing External Volatility: Policy Frameworks in Non-Reserve Issuing Economies (2022) Journal of Financial Crises 4(3), 165-188.

Central Bank Independence and Low Inflation: Who Leads the Dance? (2021) Applied Economics Letters 28(6), 477-481.

Monetary and Macroprudential Policy Coordination Among Multiple Equilibria (2019). Journal of International Money and Finance 96, 192-209.

Revisiting the Institutional Determinants of Central Bank Independence (2019) Applied Economics Letters 26, 1649-1654.

On International Integration of Emerging Sovereign Bond Markets (2019) (with Melissa Chan, Mangal Goswami and Sunil Sharma). Emerging Markets Review 38, 347-363.

Will Macroprudential Policy Counteract Monetary Policy's Effects on Financial Stability? (2019) (with Maria Demertzis). North American Journal of Economics and Finance 48, 65-75.

Populism and Central Bank Independence: Comment (2018) Open Economies Review 29(3), 687-693.

Bank Risk within and across Equilibria (2014). Journal of Banking and Finance 48, 322-333.

"Leaning Against the Wind" and the Timing of Monetary Policy (2013) (with Maria Demertzis). Journal of International Money and Finance 35, 179-194.

Multiple Bank Regulators and Risk Taking. (2013) Journal of Financial Stability 9(3), 259-268.

Wholesale Bank Funding, Capital Requirements and Credit Rationing (2013) Journal of Financial Stability 9(1), 38-45.

Credit Rationing When Banks are Funding Constrained (2012) North American Journal of Economics and Finance 23(2), 220-227.

Trade Liberalization, Firm Selection and Variety Growth (2010) Review of International Economics 18(3), 582-594.

The US Trade Deficit, the Decline of the WTO and the Rise of Regionalism (2008) Global Economy Journal 8(3).

Testing the Links Between Institutional Integration and Trade Deepening: Clues from Europe (2007) Open Economies Review 18(5), 599-612 (with Ettore Dorrucci and Francesco Mongelli).

How Did European Institutional Integration and Intra-European Trade Interact? (2007) Economie Internationale 109(1), 107-146. (with Ettore Dorrucci and Francesco Mongelli)

Publications in Books and Conference Volumes

Macroprudential Policies and Capital Flow Measures (2023) (with Sunil Sharma). In "Challenges and Options in Managing Capital Flows for Small, Open, and Financially Integrated Economies", Box 5, SEACEN publications.

Populism, Institutional Quality, and Central Bank Independence (2020) in "Populism, Economic Policies and Central Banking", Ernest Gnan and Donato Masciandaro (eds.), SUERF Conference Proceedings 2020/1.

Casting Light on Central Bank Digital Currencies (with Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli, Maria Soledad Martinez Peria, Anil Ari, John Kiff, Adina Popescu, and Celine Rochon). In: "Cryptoassets: Legal, Regulatory and Monetary Perspectives" Chris Brummer (ed.), Oxford University Press, 2019

Central Bank Digital Currencies: An Overview of Pros and Cons. In: "Do We Need Central Bank Digital Currencies? Economics, Technology and Institutions" Ernest Gnan and Donato Masciandaro (eds.), SUERF/BAFFI CAREFIN Conference Volume, 2018.

Lessons for Frontier Economies from Emerging Markets (with Mangal Goswami, Shinichi Nakabayashi and Sunil Sharma). In: "Frontier and Developing Asia: The Next Generation of Emerging Markets" Alfred Schipke (ed), International Monetary Fund Press, 2015.

Rules, Discretion, and Macro-Prudential Policy (with Sunil Sharma) In: 2014 "Institutional Structure of Financial Regulation: Theories and International Experiences" Robing Hui Huang and Dirk Schoenmaker (eds.), Routledge.

Other Published Materials

For a list of other publications, please see my personal site.

Itai Agur

Itai Agur is a Senior Economist at the Macro-Financial Division of the IMF's Research Department. His research interests include fintech, macroprudential regulation, and monetary policy.

Email: IAGUR@imf.org

Personal WebPage: https://itaiagur.weebly.com

Fluent In: Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Spanish.

Education:

European University Institute, PhD

University of Amsterdam, MSc & BSc


Previous Experience:

Dutch Central Bank (2008-2011)

European Central Bank (2003-2004)


Editorial Activities:

IMF Economic Review, Associate Editor.


Awards and Honors:

The European Economic Association's Young Economist Award, 2007.

The Arrow Award for Young Economists, 2008


Country work or Mission Assignment:

Mongolia (2016-17)

Canada (2015-16)


Teaching:

IMF courses taught in Fiji, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam (2011-2015)


IMF Career:

Research Department (2018 - )

Strategy, Policy and Review Department (2015-2017)

Singapore Regional Training Institute (2011-2015)


Others:

Fintech (additional field of expertise)


Field of Expertise:

Monetary Policy

Banking

Macro-Financial Issues

IMF Books and Working Papers:

Bank Competition and Household Privacy in a Digital Payment Monopoly , Working Paper No. 2023/121 , June 09, 2023

Digital Currencies and Energy Consumption , FinTech Notes No 2022/006 , June 07, 2022

Monetary Finance: Do Not Touch, or Handle with Care? , Departmental Paper No 2022/001 , January 13, 2022

Politically Robust Financial Regulation , Working Paper No. 2021/001 , January 08, 2021

Managing External Volatility: Policy Frameworks in Non-Reserve Issuing Economies , Working Paper No. 2020/288 , December 18, 2020

Designing Central Bank Digital Currencies , Working Paper No. 19/252 , November 18, 2019

Casting Light on Central Bank Digital Currencies , Staff Discussion Notes No. 18/08 , November 13, 2018

Monetary and Macroprudential Policy Coordination Among Multiple Equilibria , Working Paper No. 18/235 , November 02, 2018

On International Integration of Emerging Sovereign Bond Markets , Working Paper No. 18/18 , January 24, 2018

Products and Provinces : A Disaggregated Panel Analysis of Canada’s Manufacturing Exports , Working Paper No. 16/193 , September 26, 2016

Products and Provinces : A Disaggregated Panel Analysis of Canada’s Manufacturing Exports , Working Paper No. 16/193 , September 26, 2016

Will Macroprudential Policy Counteract Monetary Policy’s Effects on Financial Stability? , Working Paper No. 15/283 , December 29, 2015

Bank Risk Within and Across Equilibria , Working Paper No. 14/116 , July 02, 2014

Leaning Against the Wind and the Timing of Monetary Policy , Working Paper No. 13/86 , April 03, 2013

Rules, Discretion, and Macro-Prudential Policy , Working Paper No. 13/65 , March 08, 2013

Wholesale Bank Funding, Capital Requirements and Credit Rationing , Working Paper No. 13/30 , January 31, 2013

IMF Country Reports

Canada 2016 Article IV Consultation, Staff Report.

Mongolia 2017 Article IV Consultation, Staff Report.

IMF Occasional Papers, Pamphlets, and Special Issues Papers

IMF Approach to Central Bank Digital Currency Capacity Development (2023). IMF Policy Paper No. 2023/016.

Elements of Effective Policies for Crypto Assets (2023). IMF Policy Paper 2023/004.

Digital Currencies and Energy Consumption (2022). IMF Fintech Notes 2022/006.

Monetary Finance: Do Not Touch, or Handle with Care? (2022) IMF Departmental Paper 2022/001

Lighting the Path to Recovery. IMF Research Perspectives issue on COVID (Guest Editor), January 2021.

Digital Money Across Borders: Macro-Financial Implications (2020). IMF Policy Paper 2020/050.

Strengthening the International Monetary System - A Stocktaking (2016) (with a large group of co-authors). IMF Policy Paper.

iMFdirect Blog Posts

How Crypto and CBDCs Can Use Less Energy Than Existing Payment Systems

Should Monetary Finance Remain Taboo?

Selected Issue

Digital Financial Services and the Pandemic: Opportunities and Risks for Emerging and Developing Economies (2020) IMF Special Series on COVID-19.

Other Published Materials

IMF-FSB Synthesis Paper: Policies for Crypto-Assets (2023)

G-20 Report, Macrofinancial Implications of Crypto Assets (2023) (based on IMF Policy Paper 2023/004)

Publications in Journals (Refereed)

Government Finance by Central Banks and Inflation Expectations at the Onset of the COVID Pandemic (2024) Applied Economics Letters 31(2), 107-112.

Lessons from Crypto Assets for the Design of Energy Efficient Digital Currencies (2023) Ecological Economics 212, 107888.

Measuring the Speed of Currency Substitution (2023) Applied Economics Letters 30(10), 1385–1389.

Designing Central Bank Digital Currencies (2022) (with Anil Ari and Giovanni Dell'Ariccia) Journal of Monetary Economics 125, 62-79.

Managing External Volatility: Policy Frameworks in Non-Reserve Issuing Economies (2022) Journal of Financial Crises 4(3), 165-188.

Central Bank Independence and Low Inflation: Who Leads the Dance? (2021) Applied Economics Letters 28(6), 477-481.

Monetary and Macroprudential Policy Coordination Among Multiple Equilibria (2019). Journal of International Money and Finance 96, 192-209.

Revisiting the Institutional Determinants of Central Bank Independence (2019) Applied Economics Letters 26, 1649-1654.

On International Integration of Emerging Sovereign Bond Markets (2019) (with Melissa Chan, Mangal Goswami and Sunil Sharma). Emerging Markets Review 38, 347-363.

Will Macroprudential Policy Counteract Monetary Policy's Effects on Financial Stability? (2019) (with Maria Demertzis). North American Journal of Economics and Finance 48, 65-75.

Populism and Central Bank Independence: Comment (2018) Open Economies Review 29(3), 687-693.

Bank Risk within and across Equilibria (2014). Journal of Banking and Finance 48, 322-333.

"Leaning Against the Wind" and the Timing of Monetary Policy (2013) (with Maria Demertzis). Journal of International Money and Finance 35, 179-194.

Multiple Bank Regulators and Risk Taking. (2013) Journal of Financial Stability 9(3), 259-268.

Wholesale Bank Funding, Capital Requirements and Credit Rationing (2013) Journal of Financial Stability 9(1), 38-45.

Credit Rationing When Banks are Funding Constrained (2012) North American Journal of Economics and Finance 23(2), 220-227.

Trade Liberalization, Firm Selection and Variety Growth (2010) Review of International Economics 18(3), 582-594.

The US Trade Deficit, the Decline of the WTO and the Rise of Regionalism (2008) Global Economy Journal 8(3).

Testing the Links Between Institutional Integration and Trade Deepening: Clues from Europe (2007) Open Economies Review 18(5), 599-612 (with Ettore Dorrucci and Francesco Mongelli).

How Did European Institutional Integration and Intra-European Trade Interact? (2007) Economie Internationale 109(1), 107-146. (with Ettore Dorrucci and Francesco Mongelli)

Publications in Books and Conference Volumes

Macroprudential Policies and Capital Flow Measures (2023) (with Sunil Sharma). In "Challenges and Options in Managing Capital Flows for Small, Open, and Financially Integrated Economies", Box 5, SEACEN publications.

Populism, Institutional Quality, and Central Bank Independence (2020) in "Populism, Economic Policies and Central Banking", Ernest Gnan and Donato Masciandaro (eds.), SUERF Conference Proceedings 2020/1.

Casting Light on Central Bank Digital Currencies (with Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli, Maria Soledad Martinez Peria, Anil Ari, John Kiff, Adina Popescu, and Celine Rochon). In: "Cryptoassets: Legal, Regulatory and Monetary Perspectives" Chris Brummer (ed.), Oxford University Press, 2019

Central Bank Digital Currencies: An Overview of Pros and Cons. In: "Do We Need Central Bank Digital Currencies? Economics, Technology and Institutions" Ernest Gnan and Donato Masciandaro (eds.), SUERF/BAFFI CAREFIN Conference Volume, 2018.

Lessons for Frontier Economies from Emerging Markets (with Mangal Goswami, Shinichi Nakabayashi and Sunil Sharma). In: "Frontier and Developing Asia: The Next Generation of Emerging Markets" Alfred Schipke (ed), International Monetary Fund Press, 2015.

Rules, Discretion, and Macro-Prudential Policy (with Sunil Sharma) In: 2014 "Institutional Structure of Financial Regulation: Theories and International Experiences" Robing Hui Huang and Dirk Schoenmaker (eds.), Routledge.

Other Published Materials

For a list of other publications, please see my personal site.