By using a model of trade union behaviour Grüner (2010) argues that the introduction of the European Monetary Union (EMU) led to lower wage growth and lower unemployment in participating countries. Following Grüner's model, monetary centralization lets the central bank react less flexibly to...

The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Central Banking covers a wide range of central bank topics, including governance, independence, balance-sheet and crisis management, and the challenges in macroeconomic modeling. The book is intended as an up-to-date reference for the current and potential...

Nowadays, it is widely believed that greater disclosure and clarity over policy may lead to greater predictability of central bank actions. We examine whether communication by the European Central Bank (ECB) adds information compared to the information provided by a Taylor rule model in which...