Description
An economic analysis of what distributed ledgers can do, examining key components and discussing applications in both developed and emerging market economies.
Distributed ledger technology (DLT) has the potential to transform economic organization and financial structure. In this book, Robert Townsend steps back from the hype and controversy surrounding DLT (and the related, but not synonymous, innovations of blockchain and Bitcoin) to offer an economic analysis of what distributed ledgers can do. Townsend examines the key components of distributed ledgers, discussing, evaluating, and illustrating each in the context of historical and contemporary economics, and reviewing featured applications in both developed economies and emerging-market countries.
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction
2 Economies, Obstacles, Welfare, and Measurement
3 Ledgers as Financial Accounts
4 E-Payments, E-messages and Trusted Third Parties in Payments Systems
5 Encryption
6 Smart Contracts--Contract theory and Mechanism design
7 Design Issues: Partitioned Ledgers, the Decision to Decentralize Implementation in Multi-Party Contracts, And Incentive Compatible Token Payments Systems
8 Building Financial Infrastructure on Distributed Ledgers--Practical Application in Emerging Markets
9 Payments Systems on Distributed Ledgers: Practical Applications
10 Regulation and the Use of Distributed Ledger Technology
11 Cryptocurrency: The Role and Value of Tokens in Economies with Distributed Ledger Systems
12 Summary and Conclusion
Notes
References
Index
