The polemic about the proper role of monetary policies and the appropriate functions of central banks has received renewed stimulus from a number of very current events. In Europe, the creation of a supranational central bank has been realized. In the United States and other industrial as well as emerging countries, the attributes and functions of central banks have been the subject of lengthy debates. Professional interest has also been centered recently on the issues of exchange regimes and the proper targeting for monetary policy. The various papers in this collection deal with this broad set of monetary and central banking issues, and draw implications of high relevance for post-socialist transition economies. These implications, however, are also important for other emerging markets and for advanced economies as well. The major subjects covered are classified within the following five categories: 1) The definitions, meaning, and results of central bank independence. 2) Goals and objectives of central bank operations. 3) Central banks and financial sector soundness. 4) Capital mobility, currency crises, and the role of capital controls. 5) The implications of European Monetary Unification for transition economies. This book collects the contributions of very well-known experts in monetary and central banking theory and presents the results of original research specially geared to understanding the implications of general economic theory for emerging and transitional economies. The significant and very rapid changes in the nature of good monetary transmission mechanisms require the adaptation of traditional theories to new realities. Such need is most pressing in transitional andemerging countries which lack experience and depth in their financial markets. In this book the particular requirements of these economies are integrated into the main macroeconomic monetary theories. The volume also includes analyses of a number of current issues such as capital flows, currency crises, currency boards, and the implications of European Monetary Union for transition economies.

In an era of rapid and extensive economic reform, what is the appropriate role for fiscal policy? Is there a residual role of government after socialism and dirigisme? Following Macroeconomic Dimensions of Public Finance, this is the second volume of essays in honour of Vito Tanzi. It focuses on the importance of fiscal policy on the wholesale economic reforms that are sweeping the advanced, less developed and formerly communist countries. Issues analysed include: the role of fiscal and budgetary policies in the process of reform; the impact of privatization on the exchequer and the dilemmas for social policy in times of fiscal austerity; the paradox of post-socialism and post-dirigisme that an efficient and harmonic move to a decontrolled, liberal market economy involves active state intervention; and the methodological aspects relating to the proper assessment of selected fiscal policy mechanisms. This collection of essays will contribute to understanding the channels and transmission mechanisms of fiscal policies in the context of major economic reforms.

Integrating transition economies into the global commercial and trade market system is a prolonged and risky process. This book is a collection of studies dealing with the different issues related to the liberalization of external relations in economies moving from a socialist to a market-based system The focus is on external sector developments, and the topics deal with balance of payments conditions, exchange rate policies and regimes, international competitiveness, international capital flows, trade, and other matters related to the integration of transition economies into the world economy. An understanding of the principles involved and of the experiences of both transition and advanced economies during this process is crucial to ensure its ultimate success. Written by internationally recognized scholars, the chapters cover these issues in a systematic manner. The first section treats current account developments, capital flows, and exchange rate policies in transition countries, the second section deals with specific issues related to international trade, and the final section consists of six specific country experiences. In this final section, a chapter dealing with the Russian Federation discusses the collapse of the ruble in August 1998.

The essays in this volume explore the special type of policies that were needed in the post-socialist countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union in order to reduce inflation and to stop the fall in output that followed the collapse of Communism. The book contains a number of general studies that discuss the type of reforms needed and how they condition policies and analyse the aggregate relationship between reducing inflation, implementing structural reforms, and renewing the process of growth. It includes a number of country studies (on the Baltics, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and the Ukraine) about their stabilization experiences. Thus the emerging picture is one of renewal of growth in those countries that proceeded early and with the determination to implement market-oriented reforms and to stabilize their macroeconomy, and of gradual and slow stabilization of output in those countries that entered the process only very recently.

With the advent of increased capital mobility in the last two decades, financial factors have become of key importance for the processes of stabilization and growth in developing, developed, and transforming economies. The size of international capital movements and the financial intermediation industry has become so large that these factors could become the dominant impulses for individual economies and the global economy in the late 1990s and beyond. This book collects essays by well-known analysts in international economies and finance who treat these issues from relatively new perspectives. They focus on (i) the role of credit in the propagation mechanism of monetary policy; (ii) effects of monetary policy on the likelihood that a given economy will become a banking center; (iii) the implications of increased capital mobility for migration flows; (iv) the role of exchange rate bands in the transition from high to low inflation; and (v) the interaction between financial innovations and inflation.

Integrating transition economies into the global commercial and trade market system is a prolonged and risky process. This book is a collection of studies dealing with the different issues related to the liberalization of external relations in economies moving from a socialist to a market-based system The focus is on external sector developments, and the topics deal with balance of payments conditions, exchange rate policies and regimes, international competitiveness, international capital flows, trade, and other matters related to the integration of transition economies into the world economy. An understanding of the principles involved and of the experiences of both transition and advanced economies during this process is crucial to ensure its ultimate success. Written by internationally recognized scholars, the chapters cover these issues in a systematic manner. The first section treats current account developments, capital flows, and exchange rate policies in transition countries, the second section deals with specific issues related to international trade, and the final section consists of six specific country experiences. In this final section, a chapter dealing with the Russian Federation discusses the collapse of the ruble in August 1998.

The polemic about the proper role of monetary policies and the appropriate functions of central banks has received renewed stimulus from a number of very current events. In Europe, the creation of a supranational central bank has been realized. In the United States and other industrial as well as emerging countries, the attributes and functions of central banks have been the subject of lengthy debates. Professional interest has also been centered recently on the issues of exchange regimes and the proper targeting for monetary policy. The various papers in this collection deal with this broad set of monetary and central banking issues, and draw implications of high relevance for post-socialist transition economies. These implications, however, are also important for other emerging markets and for advanced economies as well. The major subjects covered are classified within the following five categories: 1) The definitions, meaning, and results of central bank independence. 2) Goals and objectives of central bank operations. 3) Central banks and financial sector soundness. 4) Capital mobility, currency crises, and the role of capital controls.5) The implications of European Monetary Unification for transition economies. This book collects the contributions of very well-known experts in monetary and central banking theory and presents the results of original research specially geared to understanding the implications of general economic theory for emerging and transitional economies. The significant and very rapid changes in the nature of good monetary transmission mechanisms require the adaptation of traditional theories to new realities. Such need is most pressing in transitional and emerging countries which lack experience and depth in their financial markets. In this book the particular requirements of these economies are integrated into the main macroeconomic monetary theories. The volume also includes analyses of a number of current issues such as capital flows, currency crises, currency boards, and the implications of European Monetary Union for transition economies.

With the advent of increased capital mobility, financial factors have become of key importance for the processes of stabilization and growth in developing developed, and transforming economies. The size of international capital movements and the financial intermediation industry has become so large that these factors could become the dominant impulses for individual economies and the global economy in the 1990s and beyond. This book collects essays by well-known analysts in international economics and finance who treat these issues from relatively new perspectives. They focus on (i) the role of credit in the propagation mechanism of monetary policy; (ii) effects of monetary policy on the likelihood that a given economy will become a banking centre; (iii) the implications of increased capital mobility for migration flows; (iv) the role of exchange rate bands in the transition from high to low inflation; and (v) the interaction between financial innovations and inflation.

While policy makers need to be focused on achieving and sustaining basic macroeconomic stability in the transition of economies from a socialist to a market orientation, financial institutions and reforms play a particularly crucial role in this transformation. The essays in this collection offer overviews of issues in banking sector reform and capital markets as well as specific perspectives on the financial sectors in changing economies of Central and Eastern Europe, China and Israel. The editors and contributors explore the questions of how much focus needs to be given to macroeconomic stabilization vis-a-vis the dynamics of the financial sector, what may be appropriate time frames for dealing with immediate and longer-term financial problems, and how trends toward economic globalization interact with financial development in transition countries. Original versions of the essays were presented at the Second Dubrovnik Conference on Transition Economies organized by the National Bank of Croatia in June 1996.

While policy makers need to be focused on achieving and sustaining basic macroeconomic stability in the transition of economies from a socialist to a market orientation, financial institutions and reforms play a particularly crucial role in this transformation. The essays in this collection offer overviews of issues in banking sector reform and capital markets as well as specific perspectives on the financial sectors in changing economies of Central and Eastern Europe, China and Israel. The editors and contributors explore the questions of how much focus needs to be given to macroeconomic stabilization vis-a-vis the dynamics of the financial sector, what may be appropriate time frames for dealing with immediate and longer-term financial problems, and how trends toward economic globalization interact with financial development in transition countries. Original versions of the essays were presented at the Second Dubrovnik Conference on Transition Economies organized by the National Bank of Croatia in June 1996.

The essays in this volume explore the special type of policies that were needed in the post-socialist countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union in order to reduce inflation and to stop the fall in output that followed the collapse of Communism. The book contains a number of general studies that discuss the type of reforms needed and how they condition policies and analyse the aggregate relationship between reducing inflation, implementing structural reforms, and renewing the process of growth. It includes a number of country studies (on the Baltics, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and the Ukraine) about their stabilization experiences. Thus the emerging picture is one of renewal of growth in those countries that proceeded early and with the determination to implement market-oriented reforms and to stabilize their macroeconomy, and of gradual and slow stabilization of output in those countries that entered the process only very recently.