L'Europa del liberalismo / Unione monetaria e indipendenza della Banca centrale

The Europe of Liberalism / European Monetary Union and Central Bank Independence

Abstract disponibile solo in lingua inglese

Monetary union is a form of collusion among central bankers. While collusion is clearly an inferior outcome to an ideal state of competition, it need not be worse than independent policy making as currently practiced. EMU may actually improve the quality of monetary policy in Europe. This positive outcome critically depends on an institutional design that would give the European monetary authority independence from the political system, in general, and the fiscal authorities, in particular; and would distribute seigniorage among member countries in such a way as to reinforce the incentives for low-inflation policies.