This paper sets up a simple model for interventions and interest rate setting assuming that the policy maker cares about deviations in inflation from a target level. Under a quadratic cost of interest rate adjustments and interventions the policy maker should use a combination of interest rate...

Among several concepts encompassed by the idea of an equilibrium rate of unemployment (labour mismatch, unemployment trend, non inflationary unemployment, structural unemployment), the NAIRU appears as the most intereting one for a central bank since it focuses directly on inflation. Thus, the...

We examine a central bank's endogenous choice of degree of control and degree of transparency, under both commitment and discretion. Under commitment, we find that the deliberate choice of sloppy control is far less likely under a standard central-bank loss function than reported for a less...

The paper is organised around three objectives. First, it scrutinises closely each of the two indices of Central Bank Independence (CBI) most commonly used in the empirical literature and quantifies their "subjectivity" bias. It defines and discovers an impressive interpretation bias, a major...

This paper attempts to assess the relative activism of these three central banks, with reference to the debate on interest rate smoothing. It investigates smoothing in terms of the pattern of interest rate changes, and estimates a series of Taylor-type policy rules for each bank, using quarterly...

There has been a remarkable rise in the transparency of monetary policy during the last two decades. This paper provides an overview of the ways in which central banks have been providing more information about their monetary policymaking. Furthermore, it reviews the theoretical literature on...

In our attempt to understand the causes and consequences of the most critical international financial crisis of the 21st century which, besides crushing world economies, questioned the bases of the mainstream economic theories, we focused our attention on the solutions provided by the Austrian...

The performance of the Netherlands central bank and its monetary policy in the face of its inability to control monetary supply is analysed through a structural model. Findings show that the monetary policy that the Dutch bank has adopted, considering the above constraint, should be fairly...

The performance of the Netherlands central bank and its monetary policy in the face of its inability to control monetary supply is analysed through a structural model. Findings show that the monetary policy that the Dutch bank has adopted, considering the above constraint, should be fairly...

Recent international financial crisis has highlighted the crucial importance of financial stability and showed clearly that ensuring price stability as an objective of monetary policy is a necessary but not a sufficient condition to ensure financial stability. In this context, there have been...