One of the most important results of the Paris Summit of the nine EEC-members was the decision taken to establish a European Monetary Union until April 1, 1973. Will the Economic Union be now approached more rapidly than in the past?

The belief that the ECB follows the US Federal Reserve in setting its policy is so entrenched with market participants and commentators that the search for empirical support would seem to be a trivial task. However, this is not the case. We find that the ECB is indeed often influenced by the...