We analyze the similarities and the differences in the fragility of the European Monetary system (EMS) and the Eurozone … foreign exchange markets while in the Eurozone it was the absence of a lender of last resort in the long-term government bond … Eurozone the roles were reversed. The national central banks that became part of the Eurosystem were strengthened. This came at …

What is the optimal institutional structure for an independent central bank? The paper shows when it will be optimal … for a country to have a central bank to be organized according to federal, purely national or a combination of both … common central bank is optimal for participating countries and when they are willing to join. The implications for an …

What policy objective should a common central bank in a heterogeneous monetary union pursue? Should it base its … of inflation and growth? We find that a central bank that minimises the national welfare losses reacts less to common … shocks. However, average union-wide expected welfare is lower under a central bank that cares about union-wide variables if …

What policy objective should a common central bank in a heterogeneous monetary union pursue? Should it base its … losses based on national rates of inflation and growth? We find that a central bank that minimises the sum of national …

asymmetric shocks. We build a model of a monetary union with a central bank and two heterogeneous countries that are linked by a … fiscal transfer scheme with repercussions on monetary policy. A central bank aiming at securing the existence of a monetary …

often aim for broad national representation. Reviewing evidence from the European Central Bank, we show that nationality is … business areas best describe the central bank's interest-rate setting behavior. …

welfare gain associated with making the central bank less conservative than society, however if the outside option is in real … of central bank conservatism. …

distribution in the European Central Bank (ECB) council. We show that, in a model where labor unions internalize the inflationary …

bank transparency. We first show that monetary uncertainty disciplines fiscal policymakers and thereby reduces taxes …