Suchergebnisse

Alternative measures of the UK output gap are considered for 1984–2007. The real-time series is strongly affected by the rolling-time estimation of the trend, and produces a picture of the business cycle which is not consistent with contemporary perceptions of the large fluctuations of the late 1980s and early 1990s. A new, 'nearly-real', measure developed here may be better for estimating historical reaction functions. In the context of the current recession, none of these mechanically derived measures of the output gap are useful. Policymakers should make careful estimates of the likely fall in potential output on the basis of other information.

A 'new version' of the gravity model is used to estimate the effect of a full range of de facto exchange rate regimes on bilateral trade. The results indicate that, while participation in a common currency union is typically strongly 'pro‐trade', other exchange rate regimes which lower the exchange rate uncertainty and transactions costs associated with international trade are significantly more pro‐trade than the default regime of a 'double float'. They suggest that the direct and indirect trade‐creating effects of these regimes on uncertainty and transactions costs tend to outweigh the trade‐diverting substitution effects. Tariff‐equivalent monetary barriers associated with each exchange rate regime are also calculated.

PART I: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES Moving towards Domestic Monetary Anchors -- are Financial Markets Ready in the Mediterranean Region?-- T.Bracke Fiscal Policy and Macroeconomic Stability in Mediterranean Countries-- M.Sturm & F.Gurtner Capital Mobility and the Optimal Monetary Policy Rule: a Tunisian Case Study-- M.Sami Nabi & N.Diop Monetary Policy Transmission and Targeting Mechanisms in Six MENA Countries-- S.Neaime Monetary Transmission Mechanisms: the Credit Versus the Interest Rate Channel-- A.Boughrara & S.Ghazouani PART II: THE JOURNEY TOWARDS IT From Bretton Woods to Inflation Targeting: Financial Change and Monetary Policy Evolution in Europe-- D.Cobham Monetary Policy in Turkey: the Reasons for Introducing Inflation Targeting and the Outcome-- H.Ersel & F.Ozatay The Evolution of Monetary Policy in Egypt and Steps Towards Inflation Targeting-- R.Al-Mashat The Uncertain Journey towards Inflation Targeting in Tunisia-- M.Boughzala & H.Moussa The Journey towards Inflation Targeting in Morocco-- L.Achy & A.Boughrara

Monetary policy in the Middle East and North African (MENA) countries remains an understudied area; this book fills an important gap by examining monetary policy frameworks and monetary policy strategies in the region. Building on the editors' earlier book, Monetary Policy and Central Banking in the Middle East and North Africa, which focused on central bank independence issues and on exchange rate regimes, this book emphasises monetary policy strategies. Part I contains an overview of the financial markets and institutions which condition the choice of monetary policy strategy in.

This book examines monetary policy and central banking in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Individual chapters focus on the monetary frameworks of particular countries. Other chapters adopt a thematic approach, addressing important subjects such as exchange rate regimes, price stability and central banking.

Data on the net sources of finance for France are used to argue that the French financial system was never anéconomie d'endettement, and to question the idea that France has converged on the Anglo‐Saxon model under the impact of financial innovation and deregulation since the early 1980s. These data and additional qualitative information suggest that in the French financial system firms and their managers have more autonomy and more control over the allocation of financial resources than their counterparts in the Anglo‐Saxon countries or Japan, and the French system should not therefore be seen as a mere 'halfway‐house' between these two polar types.