Several central banks have begun actively investigating the possibility of issuing central bank digital currency (CBDC). This new central bank liability would be a widely accessible digital form of fiat money, intended as legal tender. This chapter aims to answer a simple question: Does CBDC offer benefits? On the demand side, would it satisfy end user needs better than other forms of money? And on the supply side, would issuing CBDC allow central banks to more effectively satisfy public policy goals, including financial inclusion, operational efficiency, financial stability, monetary policy effectiveness, and financial integrity? In short, is CBDC a desirable form of money given existing and rapidly evolving alternatives? The chapter includes a summary of pilot projects and studies from central banks exploring the possibility of issuing CBDC. The analysis is based on publicly issued materials and discussions with staff members at central banks and technology providers around the world.

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DISCLAIMER: Staff Discussion Notes (SDNs) showcase policy-related analysis and research being developed by IMF staff members and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in Staff Discussion Notes are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

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Based on some relevant references, this article presents some important tools to evaluate the managing diversity in cross-cultural project teams. The approach used is based on a market survey results. For data collections were used four questionnaires. The four questionnaires are used in order to characterize: intercultural competence, communication style, the emotional intelligence level and the potential role that a person could play when he/she is part of a team. In the research were used five variables: age, nationality, residence (urban/rural), high school graduate and profile. The context of the research was defined by a collaborative and cross-cultural project team that took place in the University of Limoges (France) in 2013. All the questionnaires were applied on a sample of 125 subjects. All subjects worked in collaborative activities or cross-cultural projects. From the beginning, all the subjects were informed about the research context and the data confidentiality. Statistical processing will be performed with the specific version of Microsoft Office Excel 2003 and Sphinx Plus²-Lexica Edition -V5.

The origins of horseback riding remain elusive. Scientific studies show that horses were kept for their milk ~3500 to 3000 BCE, widely accepted as indicating domestication. However, this does not confirm them to be ridden. Equipment used by early riders is rarely preserved, and the reliability of equine dental and mandibular pathologies remains contested. However, horsemanship has two interacting components: the horse as mount and the human as rider. Alterations associated with riding in human skeletons therefore possibly provide the best source of information. Here, we report five Yamnaya individuals well-dated to 3021 to 2501 calibrated BCE from kurgans in Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary, displaying changes in bone morphology and distinct pathologies associated with horseback riding. These are the oldest humans identified as riders so far.

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