Recurrent instability has characterized the global financial system since the 1980s, eventually leading to the current global financial crisis. This instability and the resultant disruptions - sovereign debt defaults, exchange rate misalignments, financial market illiquidity and asset price...

1. Introduction -- 2. Monetary and fiscal policies for macroeconomic stability : an Asian perspective -- 3. Central banking in the Asia-Pacific : an overview -- 4. Monetary policy : overview of concepts, debates and issues -- 5. Inflation and monetary policy : theories, models and approaches --...

This book, written by an international team of economists, develops concrete, country specific alternatives to inflation targeting, the dominant policy framework of central bank policy that focuses on keeping inflation in the low single digits to the virtual exclusion of other key goals such as...

The number of central banks in the world is approaching 180, a tenfold increase since the beginning of the twentieth century. What lies behind the spread of this economic institution? What underlying process has brought central banks to hold such a key role in economic life today? This book...