Monetaristische Ziele? Die Geldmengensteuerung der Deutschen Bundesbank in den 1970er und 1980er Jahren

The annual announcement of monetary targets which the Deutsche Bundesbank started in 1974 is considered a core element of German monetary policy after the end of the Bretton Woods regime of fixed exchange rates. The paper asks to what extent this reorientation was shaped by monetarist ideas and how it related to the Keynesian paradigm that had prevailed until then. It then analyses the actual relevance of monetary targets for monetary policy, the increasing criticism of their frequent failure and the persistence of monetary targeting until the 1990s, which requires explanation, on the basis of the debates within the Bundesbank, especially in the Central Bank Council.