This paper compares the European Central Bank's conduct of monetary policy (1999-2005) with that of the Bundesbank (after the German Unification: 1990-1998) in order to test the hypothesis of an ECB with quot;Bundesbank's preferencesquot; put forward in the theoretical literature (Alesina and...

The effectiveness of monetary policy - i.e. its capacity to maintain a low rate of inflation without adverse effects on employment - crucially depends on the credibility of the Central Bank. According to Blinder (2000), this amounts to the reputation that has been earned through a consistent...

Several alternative explanations have been put forward to explain what has been named the quot;mysteryquot; of the weak Euro, after it started. We test a new hypothesis which is based on the historical process leading to the new European currency. It was necessary to convince the German public...

Most of the problems that the European Central Bank has encountered are due to the slow progress made in improving the quality of the monetary union. The increasing variance of the inflationary process among the 12 countries, especially at the extremes of income level distribution – between...

This paper compares the European Central Bank's (ECB) conduct of monetary policy (1999-2005) with that of the Bundesbank (after the German Unification: 1990-1998) in order to test the hypothesis of an ECB with 'Bundesbank's preferences' put forward in the theoretical literature (Alesina and...