, it is important that central bankers, who are in charge of a public good – in this case, stable money – bolster public confidence by explaining their policies. the best protection against temptation in monetary policy is an enlightened and stability - oriented society. 5. conclusion i will end my overview of goethe, faust and paper money here. you have probably noticed that the building we are in reflects, in many respects, the connection between frankfurt, goethe, money and faust, in particular the sculptures and paintings. this type of architectural art was primarily the idea and initiative of professor huttl. on that note, i would like to turn over to the other speakers, who will speak about the topic of today ’ s colloquium in more detail. i am sure that the combination of goethe and money will have many additional interesting insights in store for you this afternoon. thank you for your attention, and i hope you will find the event both enjoyable and stimulating. bis central bankers ’ speeches

the money that we carry around in the form of banknotes and coins no longer has anything to do with commodity money. money has no longer been linked to gold reserves since the us dollar was removed from the gold standard in 1971. bis central bankers ’ speeches in short : today ’ s money is no longer backed by any real assets. banknotes are printed paper – and the experts amongst you know that the euro is printed on paper made of cotton – coins are minted metal. that banknotes and coins are accepted as a medium of payment in our daily lives also has to do with the fact that they are the only legal tender. however, ultimately the acceptance of banknotes is based on public confidence that it can use this paper money to make purchases. in this sense, money is a social convention – it has no intrinsic value which comes before its use ; instead, its value is created by its constant exchange and use as money. by the way, this recognition that trust is central, or even constitutive, for the properties of money is very old ; it was already discussed in the 4th century bc by aristotle in his politics and nicomachean ethics. in recent times, in particular, many citizens are asking about the origin of money : where do the central banks actually acquire the huge amounts of money that they need to give billions in loans to the banking system as part of monetary policy operations or to make other purchases? why it is often repeated in this context that central banks have virtually unlimited firepower? central banks create money by granting commercial banks credit against collateral or by buying assets such as bonds. the financial power of a central bank is unlimited in principle ; it does not have to acquire beforehand the money it lends or uses for payments, but can basically create it out of thin air. the printing of money is an appropriate image here ; from an economic perspective, the printing press is not necessary, as the creation of money primarily shows up on the central bank ’ s balance sheet, on its accounts. how does johann wolfgang von goethe enter the equation when talking about the creation of money. why have i widened the discussion further? 3. money creation, goethe, faust and alchemy let me remind you briefly of the “ money creation ” scene in act one of the second part of faust. mephistopheles, disguised as a fool, talks to the emperor, who is in severe financial distress, and says “ in this world, what isn ’ t lacking