An authoritative examination for top international policymakers and academics conducting monetary policy arising from a conference organised by the Banca d'Italia. The yield curve - the relation among market interest rates of different maturities - is a key benchmark for evaluating investment strategies in the global financial market. To a growing extent, central banks use it to evaluate, explain to the public and monitor the results of policy decisions.

How and for whose benefit the European Central Bank (ECB) will work is one of the most important issues facing Europe, and has been the subject of vast media and academic interest. Much of this discussion has been of an increasingly emotional and political nature and has served to blur rather than inform. Written by a team at the ECB, including Otmar Issing, its Chief Economist, this study provides the first comprehensive, inside, non-technical analysis of the monetary policy strategy, institutional features and operational procedures of the Eurosystem.

Proper conduct of monetary policy requires understanding the monetary transmission mechanism, to monitor the economy, make decisions on the stance of policy, and explain the policy actions to the public. Hence, gathering evidence on the monetary transmission mechanism in the euro area has been a priority for the Eurosystem. This 2003 book presents the results of a multi-year collaborative project conducted by the European Central Bank and the other Eurosystem central banks. First, macro data are consistently investigated with both VARs and structural models for the area as a whole and for individual countries. Second, the book contains an unprecedented set of studies on the effects of monetary policy using bank and firm panel data. The results described in country case studies and overview essays by central bank economists, along with a discussion chapter by eminent academics, provide an essential contribution to research on the subject.

This book offers the most systematic analysis available of the impact of European Central Bank monetary policy on the national economies of the Eurozone. There has been a large increase in research into better understanding how changes in monetary policy affect these economies since Central Banks have become accountable for meeting specific targets in inflation, output and employment. The research to date has largely focused on national central banks, pioneered by the study of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank and the impacts of its policy decisions on the U.S. economy.

How and for whose benefit the European Central Bank (ECB) will work is one of the most important issues facing Europe, and has been the subject of vast media and academic interest. Much of this discussion has been of an increasingly emotional and political nature and has served to blur rather than inform. Written by a team at the ECB, including Otmar Issing, its Chief Economist, this study provides the first comprehensive, inside, non-technical analysis of the monetary policy strategy, institutional features and operational procedures of the Eurosystem.