There is a growing academic consensus that governments can achieve lower inflation at a reduced social cost by making their central banks independent. Nowhere is this debate more relevant than in the transition economies of Eastern Europe, where the newly established central banks' attempts to stabilise prices have come into conflict with the social objectives of national governments. This book, written by a multinational team of experts, explores the changing face of central banking in Eastern Europe in the light of modern macroeconomic thinking, providing important and novel insights into the design of monetary policy institutions. With its authoritative content, this book will interest students and academics involved with money and banking, macroeconomics and Eastern European studies. Professionals working for financial institutions will also find plenty that will appeal within these pages.

Table of contents:

1. Theoretical Perspectives on Central Bank Independence
2. The Background to Reform: Central Banking in a Command Economy
3. Central Banking in Transition Economies
4. The Changing Role of Central Banks in Market Economies
5. Central Bank Independence and Macroeconomic Performance: A Survey of the Evidence
6. Central Bank Independence and Inflation Performance in Eastern Europe
7. Central Bank Independence in Poland
8. Central Bank Independence in the Czech Republic
9. Central Bank Independence in Romania
10. Central Bank Independence in Bulgaria