Monetary Policy Instruments for European Monetary Union

Taking the Bundesbank's instruments as a starting point, this book discusses monetary policy instruments of a future European Central Bank. The book offers a systematic analysis of the issue, considering general theoretical arguments as well as the institutional situation in European countries.

This book represents the revised and enlarged results of a research projeet whieh recieved fmaneial support from the "Wissenschaftsförderung der Sparkassenorganisation e.V." and was originally published in German (Menkhoff 1996). As the issue of monetary poliey instruments for EMU is one whieh is inherently international, the publieation of an English edition is a logieal step. I whish to thank the Deutscher Sparkassenverlag, whieh published the German edition, for eneouraging work on this subsequent projeet. The major innovation in the English edition is the inc1usion of several new seetions, i.e. 3.2.4, 3.3.4, 3.3.5, 3.4.3 and 3.5. These new analyses, together with changing institutional eireumstanees and the addition of new literature have also resulted in a large number of minor ehanges through­ outthetext. The book is a contribution, from a German perspeetive, to the diseussion about monetary poliey instruments of the future European Central Bank. The main instruments are analyzed from the point of view of effieieney; in addition, the need to harmonize often divergent sets of national poliey instruments means that an emphasis on the additional goal of fair eompeti­ tion is of partieular relevanee. Last but not least, the explieit linking of EMU to the eoneept of subsidiarity has wide-ranging eonsequenees for monetary poliey instruments.