Padoa-Schioppa, an eminent Central Banker and one of the founding members of the ECB's Board, gives us an excellent insider's view of the history, operations, and functions of the Eurosystem. In addition, and more contentiously, the book advocates more centralization to the ECB – and away from the constituent banks – of the central banking functions of payment system management and banking supervision in Euroland, in line with the present centralization of monetary policy.
Charles Goodhart, Financial Markets Group, London School of Economics and Political Science
The authors succeed marvelously in providing the dosage of institutional and theoretical analysis necessary to understand the functioning of the ECB. As a result, this book will be a must not only for ECB watchers, but also for students interested in European affairs.
Paul De Grauwe, Catholic University Leuven
This is a well-researched, carefully written, and nicely balanced study of the monetary policy mechanisms of the European Central Bank, focusing on the political economy aspects of its decision-making processes. Besides giving a detailed and generally favourable study of the status quo, the authors advocate a more complete and overt shift towards an inflation targeting strategy, a continuing focus on transparency and accountability, and greater centralisation of decision making, especially after the accession countries join the eurozone.
Charles Goodhart, Financial Markets Group, London School of Economics and Political Science