Incluye referencias bibliográficas (páginas 309-339) e índice.

1. The institutional make-up and evolution of central bank-government relations: an introduction: Introduction ; Inflation then and now ; Governing structures ; Conflicts and conflict resolution ; Objectives and responsibilities in monetary policy: from experimentation and autonomy to accountability and disclosure ; The central bank and the state ; The domain of central banking -- 2. Legislation alone does not a central bank make: political structure, governance and reputation in monetary policy: Introduction ; Political structure and central bank autonomy ; The role of governance and contracts for central bankers ; Common features in monetary and fiscal policies and indicators of central bank performance ; Central banks and conflicts government ; Credibility and reputation of monetary policy ; The fiscal and monetary policy nexus: do we need a central bank at all? -- 3. Central bank personalities and monetary policy performance: Introduction ; Legacies of the past ; Friedman’s hypothesis ; CEOs of central banks ; Case studies ; The threat to monetary policy in the twenty-first century: financial instability -- 4. Econometric analysis of central bank behavior: an evolutionary approach: Introduction ; Varieties of reaction functions ; The policy paradox ; New estimates of central bank reaction functions: specification and econometric considerations ; Empirical evidence -- 5. Contrasting quantitative and qualitative assessments of central bank behavior and the evolution of monetary policies: Introduction ; Reconciling the econometric and qualitative evidence ; The emergence of common features in monetary policy: the triumph of policies? ; A half century of experimentation ; An assessment -- 6. Accountability, disclosure and conflict resolution: Introduction ; How much to talk? Central bank signaling and credibility ; The meaning of accountability; The value of disclosure ; The importance of conflict resolution procedures and governance ; Measuring central bank accountability and disclosure -- 7. Inflation targets versus other inflation control measures: two sides of the same coin? : Introduction ; The end of personalities and the emergence of a framework for monetary policy ; Exchange rate regimes, money, inflation, and targeting: which one is a coherent policy framework? ; Disclosure versus flexibility redux ; The appeal of “communication” as an instrument of monetary policy ; Communicating monetary policy ; Practical issues with inflation targets: the crucial role of the institutional framework -- 8. The changing face of central banking: Introduction ; De jure or de facto autonomy: does it matter? ; Whither central bank personalities? : Qualitative versus quantitative forms of analysis of central bank performance ; Toward the holy grail in monetary policy?