johannes beermann : the euro at 20 - the future of our money introductory statement by dr johannes beermann, member of the executive board of the deutsche bundesbank, at the american numismatic society headquarters, new york city, 22 october 2022. * * * 1 introductory remarks ladies and gentlemen, i would like to thank you very much for your kind invitation and the opportunity to present the deutsche bundesbank's latest book project 1 to mark the 20th anniversary of the introduction of euro banknotes and coins. before we get into what i hope will be an exciting panel discussion with mark gould, let me give you a brief introduction to the work. " money can't buy happiness " as the saying goes. it may come at a surprise to you, then, that science sees this completely differently : the prospect of holding cash in one's hands has been proven to cause the brain to release dopamine, the feel - good hormone also associated with eating, drinking, or taking drugs. even more : it appears electronic payment media don't have this rewarding effect. the way digital payments are processed in the brain is far more complex. as numismatists who deal with money in its physical form, this fact should certainly please you. i was not aware of the happiness - giving effect of money until just recently, when i read the work by the business psychologist julia pitters, who contributed one of a total of 33 articles to the collection being presented here today. personally, i like another insight from her essay even more. she finds that our common european cash can also be said to have an identity - creating effect. using euro notes and coins allows people to identify more strongly with the euro area. euro cash has become perhaps the most tangible symbol of a united europe. today, over 340 million europeans use the euro to make payments. next year, croatia will become the twentieth country to join the euro area. 20 years ago, when euro cash was introduced, people were rather sceptical, especially in germany. many people were unfamiliar with the new currency and looked back on the trusted deutschmark with nostalgia. in the early days of the single currency, the euro was often unjustly accused of having made prices more expensive. the germans have even coined a term for this : " teuro " – a combination of " teuer ", the german word for expensive and " euro ". criticism also came from academia. when the euro was introduced

consider electronic means of payment to be more in keeping with the times. this divide is also reflected in public opinion about cash. on one side of the spectrum, there is at times talk of cash as a " curse " or a technology of a bygone age. at the other extreme, there are some who believe that we are heading knowingly towards a cashless society – and thus entering a world devoid of privacy and data protection. of course, books on polarising topics need to exaggerate in one direction or the other. when it comes to the multifaceted question of the future of our money, though, i don't think it's particularly helpful to see things only in black and white. 3 the book's key messages ladies and gentlemen, the main thrust of this book is to engage precisely with this often - impassioned debate on the future of our money by presenting and appreciating different viewpoints in an objective and balanced manner. 2 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches we achieve this by considering the various aspects of money and currency from all manner of angles in the hope that the resulting insights yield a particularly nuanced, and at times even surprising, new overview. a conscious decision was made to cover a broad range of topics : from the history of money in europe to the symbolism and special importance of currency in the context of german monetary union and ultimately of european integration, all the way through to the money of tomorrow in an era of digital transformation. these are illuminated from an economic, philosophical, sociological or – as heard at the beginning – psychological perspective. i am very grateful to each and every one of this book's truly renowned authors for their enlightening contributions. the end result is, i believe, a unique compendium containing 33 individual perspectives. the contributions to the book are divided into three parts. the first covers money and currency in europe. these contributions shed light on aspects of european integration, put the role of cash into an economic and legal context, and explore the history of money. the second part of the book focuses on the special significance of national central banks in supplying cash to the domestic economy. we start by looking at germany and the bundesbank's prominent role in germany's cash cycle. we then broaden our horizons beyond the euro area and embark on a journey through the world's large industrial nations and emerging market economies. national central banks from major g20 countries explore three key issues