A European Central Bank?
Perspectives on Monetary Unification after Ten Years of the EMS

The papers in this volume analyse the issues of having a single European currency.

Marcello De Cecco (Edited by), Alberto Giovannini (Edited by)

9780521376235, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 25 May 1989

390 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.492 kg

"...a substantive addition to the growing body of research on European monetary policy issues." Finance and Development

This volume, based on a conference held by the Italian Macroeconomic Policy Group and the centre for Economic Policy Research, examines the issues raised by European monetary unification. An introduction describes recent monetary developments and identifies the motivations for creating a European central bank. Theoretical papers analyse the interactions of capital controls, financial intermediation and seigniorage in open economies; the optimal design of centralized banks of issue by sovereign countries; and some new aspects of the 'optimal currency area' question. The empirical papers provide new evidence and interpretation of inflation experience across Europe and the attitudes of European central bankers about inflation and unemployment. The historical papers describe the experience of currency unification in Germany and Italy in the 19th century and the creation of the US Federal Reserve System. The volume concludes with a panel discussion on the feasibility of European monetary unification, featuring leading academics and central bankers.

List of figures
List of tables
Preface
List of conference participants
1. Does Europe need its own central bank? Marcello de Cecco and Alberto Giovannini
2. Monetary policy, capital controls and seigniorage in an open economy Allan Drazen
Discussion Guillermo A. Calvo and Marco Pagano
3. Seigniorage in Europe Vittorio Grilli
Discussion Rudiger Dornbusch and Luigi Spaventa
Overview of chapters 2 and 3 Michael Bruno and Edmund S. Phelps
4. Factor mobility, uncertainty and exchange rate regimes Giuseppe Bertola
Discussion William H. Branson, Fiorella Padoa Schioppa and Alan C. Stockman
5. Management of a common currency Alessandra Casella and Jonathan Feinstein
Discussion Torsten Persson and Guido Tabellini
6. The tastes of European central bankers Carlo Carraro
Discussion John Flemming and Alberto Giovannini
7. The costs and benefits of a European currency Daniel Cohen
Discussion Alberto Alesina and Charles Wyplosz
8. The monetary unification process in nineteenth-century Germany: relevance and lessons for Europe today Carl-Ludwig Holtrerich
Discussion Richard Portes
9. The establishment of a central bank: Italy in the nineteenth century Valeria Sannucci
Discussion Charles Goodhart and Gianni Toniolo
10. The founding of the Fed and the destabilization of the post-1914 US economy Jeffrey A. Miron
Discussion Marcello de Cecco and Barry Eichengreen
11. Panel discussion on the prospects for a European Central Bank Rainer S. Masera, Wolfgang Rieke, Massimo Russo and Niels Thygesen
Index.

Subject Areas: Monetary economics [KCBM]