This paper discusses the Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) for Guinea. Agreement in principle was reached on the SMP from April 2005 to March 2006. The program would support the authorities’ efforts in restoring macroeconomic stability and establish a track record of policy implementation to...

Electronic money (e-money), as a network good, could become an important form of currency in the future. Such a development could affect monetary policy effectiveness. If an increased use of e-money substantially limits the demand for central bank reserves, this limitation would require changes...

The paper analyses various mechanism through which monetary union in Euroep may affect unemployment. The focus is on the political incentives for labour-market reform. There will be more reform outside than inside the EMU to the extent that a national inflation bias can be reduced. But if there...

Europe is rushing headlong into monetary union armed with preconditions reflecting mistrust among would-be partners rather than what is needed for a successful common currency. Current negotiations on the future structure and policy of EMU, in particular, seem to resemble a game of "Chicken"! It...

The growing prospect of European monetary integration has prompted interest in the study of differences in financial systems and their consequences for monetary transmission processes. This paper analyses the case of a monetary union composed of countries with heterogeneous "credit channels". In...

The ECB has still not decided which monetary policy strategy to pursue from 1999. However, the preparatory work has reduced the possible alternatives to two: a strategy of intermediate objectives fixed in terms of the quantity of money and a direct inflation targeting strategy. It would be also...

The ECB has still not decided which monetary policy strategy to pursue from 1999. However, the preparatory work has reduced the posiible alternatives to two: a strategy of intermediate objectives fixed in terms of the quantity of money and a direct inflation targeting strategy. It would be also...