Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/144398 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
NBB Working Paper No. 186
Publisher: 
National Bank of Belgium, Brussels
Abstract: 
In this paper I outline – from a practitioner’s as well as from a researcher’s perspective – several of the key developments that took place during the last century in monetary policy. In particular, I describe how the monetary system evolved from gold standard, prevailing throughout most of the last century, to paper money and how the norm in central banking changed from pure discretion after World War II to transparency and independence. I furthermore analyze how the exchange rate regime under Bretton-Woods impacted on countries’ monetary policy and, with a focus on Europe, how European Monetary Union (EMU) emerged from the European Monetary System (EMS). I then outline today’s relatively broad consensus on monetary policy and how it developed from a learning process on the side of central banks and important contributions from research. Finally, after arguing that the ECB’s monetary policy which fruitfully combines past experience and current research is a successful and promising approach, I outline some challenges lying ahead
Subjects: 
monetary policy
monetary system
European Monetary Union
ECB
JEL: 
A11
B22
E42
E58
F33
N10
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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