Gmu Emu And The Bundesbank

The Bundesbank is one of the world's most powerful and successful central banks, outstanding for its independence in the conduct of monetary policy and for its success in the achievement of relative price stability virtually throughout the post-war era. This collection of essays by the President of the Bundesbank, by former and present Board members and by Heads of Department within the Bundesbank offer a rare inside insight into its operations. The individual contributions to this volume explain the historical, legal and institutional basis of German internal and external monetary policy and highlight the goals of the German central bank and its role in the economy as a whole. The role of the Deutschmark as one of the leading international transaction, reserve and investment currencies is discussed in detail. Students of monetary management and the banking community throughout the world will benefit greatly from a study of this unique volume.

EU monetary integration was reinforced in the 1980s when macroeconomic convergence and a dominant role of the German Bundesbank created the basis for relatively stable exchange rates and increasing EU trade volumes. The analysis here focuses on the EMS crisis of 1992/93, the topic of optimum currency areas and the problem of fiscal policies and regional stabilization in Europe, the US and Canada. This book gives an assessment of the EMS developments and shows how financial market liberalization as well as the EU single market project affect the process of economic and monetary union. The role of currency substitution and problems of the Bundesbank's monetary policy control in a changing international system are evaluated.

The currency question, Disreali is reported to have said, has made even more persons mad than love. A quantitative test of the accuracy of this comparison is, in the present deplorable state of medical statistics, scarcely possible, But Disraeli may well have been right.

Pursuit of price stability may, but need not, exacerbate output fluctuations. This paper discusses the monetary strategy of the European Central Bank, the intermediate targets that this should entail, and implications for accountability, transparency, and reputation. Country-specific shocks will remain but output correlation may not reflect the old pattern of core and peripheral countries. The Stability Pact will force some countries to switch off their automatic stabilizers; others, with fewer fiscal problems, can retain them. Output correlations in EMU may reflect a fiscal core and fiscal periphery. Additional labor market flexibility remains the best solution.

With the Bundesbank now the dominant German actor in international monetary cooperation, Germany's partner states have begun to consider the requirements of the bank - rather than the government - paramount. Dorothee Heisenberg maintains that the evolution of the Bundesbank is key to understanding how and why Europeans chose to achieve monetary union.