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At long last, monetary union has dawned in Europe. Eleven member states now share the common currency, forming a larger EMU than many observers, who thought that monetary union would initially be restricted to the core countries of the European Union, expected. The next item on the EMU agenda now is the question how to bring the remaining members of the European Union into the monetary union. I.A. Mourmouras and M. G. Arghyrou address this question from the perspective of Greece, and, with it, future European Union members such as Hungary and Poland. Their book presents a careful and interesting study of the Greek monetary policy experiences over the past 25 years. It demonstrates how Greece moved from an inflation ridden economy characterized by rigid controls of the financial sector to an economy for which an independent central bank and inflation targeting are credible options. The study is not only interesting in itself but also in that it bears important lessons for the development of monetary policy and institutions in the candidate countries of the European Union.
List of contents
1. The EMU Ins and the EMU Outs: Maastricht and beyond.- 1.1. Introduction.- 1.2. On the feasibility of EMU in Europe.- 1.3. The Ins group and the Outs group.- 1.4. Monetary policy after 1999.- 1.5. Summary and concluding remarks.- 2 Greece and the European Monetary Union: a bottle half-empty or half-full?.- 2.1. Introduction.- 2.2. The Greek economy: past performance and current position.- 2.3 Costs and benefits fiom EMU membership.- 2.4. The Greek Convergence Programmes: a deficit of credibility.- 2.5. What strategy for Greece?.- 3 Monetary developments in Greece: 1975-97.- 3.1. A brief account of monetary events.- 3.2. The process of financial liberalization.- 3.3. Money and credit aggregates.- 3.4. Interest rates.- 3.5. Exchange rates.- 4 Recent Greek monetary policies.- 4.1. Introduction.- 4.2. Some preliminaries.- 4.3. Recent monetary strategies in Greece.- 5 From intermediate targets to formal inflation targets in Greece.- 5.1. Introduction.- 5.2. Inflation-targeting: theory and international evidence.- 5.3. Inflation in Greece.- 5.4. Main features and operation of an inflation-targeting regime in Greece.- 5.4.1. Why an inflation-targeting regime for Greece ?.- 6 An independent Bank of Greece: An idea whose time has come.- 6.1. Introduction.- 6.3. The Bank of Greece: Past experience and current regime>.- 6.4. How independent should the Bank of Greece be?>.- 6.5. Independence and other associated functions of the Bank of Greece>.- 6.6. An independent and accountable Bank of Greece>.- Annex: Assessing the recent Bill 2548197>.- 7 Summary and Lessons for EU candidates.- Appendix Tables.- List of Figures.- List of Tables.
Summary
At long last, monetary union has dawned in Europe. Eleven member states now share the common currency, forming a larger EMU than many observers, who thought that monetary union would initially be restricted to the core countries of the European Union, expected. The next item on the EMU agenda now is the question how to bring the remaining members of the European Union into the monetary union. I.A. Mourmouras and M. G. Arghyrou address this question from the perspective of Greece, and, with it, future European Union members such as Hungary and Poland. Their book presents a careful and interesting study of the Greek monetary policy experiences over the past 25 years. It demonstrates how Greece moved from an inflation ridden economy characterized by rigid controls of the financial sector to an economy for which an independent central bank and inflation targeting are credible options. The study is not only interesting in itself but also in that it bears important lessons for the development of monetary policy and institutions in the candidate countries of the European Union.
