Central Banks In The Age Of The Euro

The age of the euro has cast central banks in a newly prominent role in European integration and in macro-economic policy making in Europe. This text examines the effects of the euro as the new European single currency on the central banks of the member states of the European Union.

Curzio had one of the most fertile and original minds ever to be deployed on questions relating, first, to the interactions between Central Banks, private sector financial intermediaries and the government, and second to the working of the international monetary system in general, and to the role of the IMF specifically within that. His approach has been to apply a theory of history , which provides a beautifully written and illuminating book, much easier and nicer to read and more rounded than the limited mathematical models that have so monopolised academia in recent decades. From the foreword by Charles A.E. Goodhart Curzio Giannini s history of the evolution of central banks illustrates how the most relevant institutional developments have taken place at times of widespread confidence crises and in response to deflationary pressures. The eminent and highly-renowned author provides an analytical perspective to study the evolution of central banking as an endogenous response to crisis and to the ever increasing needs of economic growth. The key argument of the analysis is that crucial innovations in the payment technology (from the invention of coinage to the development of electronic money) could not have taken place without an institution i.e. the central bank - that could preserve confidence in the instruments used as money. According to Curzio Giannini s neo-institutionalist methodological approach, social institutions are, in fact, essential in the coordination of individual decisions as they minimize transaction costs, overcome information asymmetries and deal with incomplete contracts. This enlightening and revealing historical theory perspective on central banking will prove a thought-provoking read for academic and institutional economists, economic historians, and economic policymakers involved in the task of crafting a new institutional arrangement for central banking in the globalized economy.

After fifty years the Deutsche Bundesbank - the central bank that dominated European monetary affairs - has stepped down to entrust monetary policy to the European Central Bank (ECB). This is the first research work to thoroughly explore the lessons to be learned from the Bundesbank by the ECB, in areas such as price stability and political interference.

With the start of EMU, the Eurosystem has taken over monetary policy for the 11 countries of the Euro-area. But the division of powers within the Eurosystem, between the European Central Bank and the constituent National Central Banks, is not satisfactory. This volume provides an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the Eurosystem and offers concrete proposals concerning the decision-making organs, balance sheets and the distribution of seigniorage.

The European Cenrtral Bank starts operations on January 1st 1999. As the independant bank which issues euro banknotes and controls European monetary policy, it is one of the key financial institutions of the world - symbol of Europe's ever closer financial and political union, and the seminal driving-force behind Europe's growing world power in politics and economics. The Bank provides a first-hand account, based on access to the key players, of the intrigues and in-fighting surrounding the creation of the Bank and the appointment of its first president, the German-backed Dutchman Wim Duisenberg. It provides a detailed analysis of the Bank's operations and prospects, and a rigorous examination of all the related issues of European and global power - financial, economic, and political - including the impact of the bank on the City of London's future as an world financial centre.

An examination of the debates on European Central Bank monetary policy, focusing on issues of transparency, credibility, and accountability and the effect of the ECB's decentralized structure. The adoption of the euro in 1999 by 11 member states of the European Union created a single currency area second in economic size only to the United States. The euro zone's monetary policy is now set by the European Central Bank (ECB) and its Governing Council rather than by individual national central banks. This CESifo volume examines issues that have arisen in the first years of ECB monetary policy and analyzes the effect that current ECB policy strategy and structures may have in the future. After a detailed description and assessment of ECB monetary policy making that focuses on such issues as price stability and the predictability of policy decisions, the book turns to two important issues faced by European central bankers: the transparency and credibility of decision making and the ECB's decentralized structure. After showing that transparency in decision making enhances credibility, the book discusses the ECB's efforts at openness, its political independence as guaranteed by law, and its ultimate accountability. The book then considers the effects of the decentralized ECB structure, focusing on business cycle synchronization, inflation differentials, and differences in monetary policy transmission in light of the enlargement of the monetary union. The book also discusses options for ECB institutional reforms, including centralization, vote weighting, and cross-border regional banks.

The papers in this volume analyse the issues of having a single European currency.