Due to their ties with elected leaders, central bankers may pursue policies that are not in society's best interests. Consequently, the relationship between the public and the central bank can be characterized as a principal-agent problem. An inflation and a stabilization bias arise as a result...

Founded by the late Karl Brunner in 1970, the Konstanz Seminar celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in 1999. Brunner started the Seminar with two objectives, to close the gap in the quality of research and teaching of economics between the United States and Europe, Germany and Switzerland in...