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The future European Central Bank needs monetary policy instruments which have yet to be agreed. At present, the range of instruments is very heterogeneous in the potential member states. This book offers a systematic analysis of the issue, considering general theoretical arguments as well as the concrete institutional situation in European countries. Taking the Bundesbank's instruments as the starting point, their rationale is discussed against the background of experience elsewhere. The theoretical and empirical treatment leads to several competing concepts. Taking the three goals of monetary efficiency, fair competition and decentralization establishes a strong case for the use of "standing facilities" and to a lesser extend "reserve requirements", albeit modified and brought up-to-date

This paper takes a first step in analysing how a monetary union performs in the presence of labour market asymmetries. Differences in wage flexibility, market power and country sizes are allowed for in a setting with both country-specific and aggregate shocks. The implications of asymmetries for both the overall performance of the monetary union and the country-specific situation are analysed. It is shown that asymmetries can have important effects, and that there are substantial spill-over effects. Among other things, it is found that aggregate output volatility is not strictly increasing in nominal rigidity but hump-shaped. A disproportionate share of the consequences of wage inflexibility may fall on small countries. In the case of country-specific shocks a country unambiguously benefits in terms of macroeconomic stability by becoming more flexible, but in general an inflexible country does not necessarily achieve more output stability by becoming more flexible. As this may be desirable for the monetary union as a whole, there is a risk of a ?reform deficit? in an asymmetric monetary union.