The Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives is dedicated to revealing the shortcomings of today’s centralized, bureaucratic, and discretionary monetary and financial‐regulatory systems and to identifying, studying, and promoting alternatives more conducive to a stable, flourishing, and free society. The Center brings together unparalleled expertise with an Executive Advisory Council made up of financial experts, an Academic Advisory Council that includes many of the world’s leading monetary economists, and multiple scholar affiliates as adjuncts, senior fellows, and full‐time experts at Cato. The Center engages with policymakers, academics, students, and the public through original research, public policy analysis, educational events, and multimedia resources.
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Alt‑M: Ideas for an Alternative Monetary Future
Welcome to Alt‑M, a community devoted to exploring and promoting ideas for an alternative monetary future. Our goal is to reveal the shortcomings of today’s centralized, bureaucratic, and discretionary monetary arrangements, and to bring serious consideration of real alternatives to the center stage of current monetary and financial reform debates.
Center Staff
Our Experts
Executive Advisory Council
- John A. Allison, Chair, Executive Advisory Council, Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, former President and CEO, Cato Institute, and former Chairman and CEO, BB&T Corporation
- Sean Fieler, President of Equinox Partners, L.P. and the Kuroto Fund, LP
- Robert Gelfond, CEO and Founder, MQS Management
- James Grant, Founder and Editor, Grant’s Interest Rate Observer
- Richard Kovacevich, Chairman Emeritus, Wells Fargo and Co.
- Robert L. Luddy, Founder and CEO, CaptiveAire
- George Melloan (1927–2020, served 2014–2020), former Deputy Editor, Wall Street Journal
- Judy Shelton, United States Director, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
- Jeffrey S. Yass, Managing Director, Susquehanna International Group
Council of Academic Advisors
- Leszek Balcerowicz, Professor of Economics, College of Europe; former Chairman of the National Bank of Poland, and former Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister
- Guillermo Calvo, Professor of Economics and Director of the Program in Economic Policy Management, Columbia University
- Kenneth French, Carl E. and Catherine M. Heidt Professor of Finance, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College
- Edward J. Kane, Professor of Finance, Boston College
- George Kaufman, (1933–2020, served 2014–2020), John F. Smith Jr. Professor of Finance and Economics, Loyola University Chicago
- David Laidler, Professor Emeritus (Economics), University of Western Ontario
- Bennett T. McCallum, H. J. Heinz Professor of Economics, Carnegie Mellon University
- J. Huston McCulloch, Professor Emeritus, Ohio State University, and Adjunct Professor, New York University
- Ronald McKinnon (1935–2014, served 2014–2014), William B. Eberle Professor of Economics, Stanford University
- Vernon L. Smith, Nobel Laureate (Economics) and Professor of Economics, Chapman University
- John B. Taylor, Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics, Stanford University
- Richard H. Timberlake, (1922–2020, served 2014–2020), Professor Emeritus (Economics), University of Georgia
- William R. White, former Chairman, Economic Development and Review Committee, OECD (Paris) andformer Economic Adviser and Head of the Monetary and Economic Department, Bank for International Settlements
- Geoffrey Wood, Professor Emeritus (Monetary Economics), University of Buckingham
- Randall Wright, Ray Zemon Professor of Liquid Assets and Professor of Economics, University of Wisconsin‐Madison
- Leland B. Yeager (1924–2018, served 2014–2018), Professor Emeritus (Economics), Auburn University and University of Virginia