Aspects Of Central Bank Policy Making

This volume is a collection of papers which were presented and discussed at a conference on "Aspects of Central Bank Policy Making" which took place in January 1990 at the Bank of Israel and Tel Aviv University. The conference marked the tenth anniversary of the passing of David Horowitz who was the first governor of the Bank of Israel. The conference was sponsored by the Bank of Israel and the David Horowitz Institute for the Research of Developing Countries at Tel Aviv University. Eitan Berglas, Zvi Eckstein and Mordechai Fraenkel served as organizing committee. The volume has three parts. The first part deals with the rules and the constraints that are fundamental for central bank policy making. It starts with a critical review of 75 years of monetary policy of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, followed by several studies directed at the issues concerning the establishment of a European central bank. The second part deals with the insurance, regulation and safety of commercial banks. The last part contains analysis of monetary policies in Germany and Israel. Part of the research included in this volume is the result of a two years research project on "Central Bank Policies, Disinflation and the Macroeconomy" conducted at the David Horowitz Institute. The contributors to this project were: the Bundesbank, the Bank of England, the Bank of Italy, the Bank of Israel, the Bank for International Settlements and the Bank of the Netherlands.

Provides an in-depth overview of the Federal Reserve System, including information about monetary policy and the economy, the Federal Reserve in the international sphere, supervision and regulation, consumer and community affairs and services offered by Reserve Banks. Contains several appendixes, including a brief explanation of Federal Reserve regulations, a glossary of terms, and a list of additional publications.

This book integrates new political and economic elements into the analysis of monetary policy credibility and central bank independence. The author considers imperfect monetary control, rational voters, distributional issues and uncertainty about future policy objectives in his welfare analysis of central banking. The role played by the different institutional elements that contribute to the making of an independent central bank is also assessed. A distinction is made between central bank independence and targets offering new insights into how a more inflation averse monetary policy may actually be achieved. Finally, explanations for the variation of central bank independence and conservatism across different countries are provided. This book will appeal to researchers, academics and policy makers in the fields of monetary policy, financial economics, money and banking and political economy.

Central Bank Policy: Theory and Practice analyses various policies, theories and practices adopted by central banks, as well as the institutional arrangements underlying the principles of good governance in policy-making. It is the first book to comprehensively discuss the latest theories and practices of central bank policy.

Central banks have emerged as the key players in national and international policy making. This book explores their evolution since World War II in 20 industrial countries. The study considers the mix of economic, political and institutional forces that have affected central bank behaviour and its relationship with government. The analysis reconciles vastly different views about the role of central banks in the making of economic policies. One finding is that monetary policy is an evolutionary process.

Written by two expert economists, this comprehensive Advanced Introduction provides a thorough and up-to-date analysis of central banks and monetary policy, analysing the ways in which views about monetary policy have developed and changed.

The activities of central banks are relevant to everyone in society. This book starts by considering how and why in general central banks evolved and specifically the special aspects of the contribution of the Northern European Central Banking Tradition. With that foundation, the book will then turn to a series of contemporary themes. Firstly, this book looks at independence, how central banks can actually influence their respective economies, goals, responsibilities and governance. This collection of papers, formulated from the joint conference of the Bank of Finland and the Deutsche Bundesbank in November 2007, will help motivate continuing research into the institutional design of central banks and promote a better understanding of the many challenges central banks are facing today. This volume gives a detailed perspective on the benefits of price stability and central bank independence and, due to the advances in macroeconomic theory, has prompted a substantial rethink on central banks’ institutional design. With contributions from such scholars as Anne Sibert and Forrest Capie and a foreword by Erkki Liikanen and Professor Axel A. Weber, this volume will be useful reading for monetary economists around the world as well as all those with an interest in central banks and banking more generally.