This paper starts with a discussion of the various aspects of accountability of central banks. On the basis of this discussion we construct an indicator for accountability for 16 central banks, including the European Central Bank. It is shown that the degree of accountability differs...

Central banks have become more and more transparent about their monetary policy making process. In the central bank transparency lit- erature the distinction between actual and perceived central bank trans- parency is often lacking. However, as perceptions are crucial for the ac- tions of...

This paper introduces a parameter for central bank independence in a monetary policy game with a conservative central banker.It tries to explain the optimal degree of central bank independence and conservativeness by four economic and political determinants, both theoretically and...

This paper studies how the exposure of a country's corporate sector to interest rate and exchange rate changes affects the probability of a currency crisis.To analyze this question, we present a model that defines currency crisis as situations in which the costs of maintaining a fixed exchange...

This paper applies Obstfeld's Euler equation tests to assess the degree of financial integration in the European Union. In addition, we design a new Euler equation test which is intimately related to Obstfeld's Euler equation tests. Using data from the latest Penn World Table (Mark 6), we arrive...

Abstract: This paper analyzes the voting records of four central banks (Sweden, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic) with spatial models of voting. We infer the policy preferences of the monetary policy committee members and use these to analyze the evolution in preferences over time and the...

This paper focuses on the fundamental determinants of the degree of financial integration in the European Union over the period 1973-1993. Using closed interest differentials to measure the intensity of capital controls and applying a panel data approach, we find realized inflation rates,...