In the wake of the recent European debt crisis, the European Central Bank (ECB) has grown significantly in importance. As the crisis worsened, the ECB needed to take measures that went far beyond standard monetary policy operations - particularly with respect to its function as lender of last...

The debate about TARGET2, the payment system of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), has resulted in controversial discussions in Germany in recent years. The present study by DIW Berlin concludes that fears often expressed in this context of the risks to Germany are largely unfounded....

Inflation in the euro area has been below the European Central Bank's target for almost a year now and it is also expected to remain at a very low level in the near future. On the one hand, such a low level of inflation is not in line with the ECB's objective. On the other hand, there is the...

The European Central Bank (ECB) decided at its Council meeting in January to implement a comprehensive program to purchase bonds, including euro area government bonds. The purchases are intended to anchor the rate of inflation and inflation expectations at below but close to two percent again....

On July 1, 1990, when capital controls in the European Economic Community were removed, the path was paved for the introduction of the euro. This path was marked by a compromise between two schools of thought-those who assumed that the creation of the European Central Bank would be followed by...

In the debate on monetary policy decisions, to date, little attention has been paid to distributional effects. One reason for this is that they are not included in the mandate of the European Central Bank (ECB). Given the loose monetary policy stance in the euro area and the large-scale program...

As well as implementing the common monetary policy, the national central banks (NCBs) which, together with the European Central Bank (ECB) form the Eurosystem, are also responsible for performing a range of national tasks. Among other things, these include the management of their financial...