As the independence of national central banks in the European Union is one of the main institutional features of the monetary constitution of the EU, the paper tries to find out whether central banks are factually independent in their decisions about interest rates if they face political...

The objective of this paper is twofold. First, we provide an introduction on estimation and methodology of the real equilibrium exchange rate. Second, we discuss to what extent are these estimates applicable for setting the central parity. Given the uncertainty surrounding the estimates, they...

In this paper, we provide evidence on the nature and the relative importance of domestic and foreign shocks in Slovak economy based on block-restriction vector autoregression model in 1999-2007. We document well-functioning monetary transmission mechanism in Slovakia. Subject to various...

This paper assesses whether the legal independence granted to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) under the latest legislation is factual. I followed Fry’s methodology, which assumes that the level of independence of the central bank is determined by fiscal attributes. In an attempt to develop...

We examine the evolution of monetary policy rules in a group of inflation targeting countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden and the United Kingdom), applying a moment-based estimator in a time-varying parameter model with endogenous regressors. Using this novel flexible framework, our...

The membership of the Czech Republic in the European Union has a number of economic, institutional and law implication. All new EU members must undertake to introduce the euro once the conditins are right for doing so. To this end, convergence programes for member states have been put in place -...

The coordination of the economic policies of the EU Member countries started in the early 90´ s has become a permanent feature of the European integration process. Gradually a rather complicated mechanism has evolved aiming to combine and complement policies pursued at EU level with policies...

This paper suggests that non-fundamental component in asset prices is one of the drivers of financial and credit cycle. Presented model builds on the financial accelerator literature by including a stock market where limitedly-liable investors trade stocks of productive firms with stochastic...

This paper focuses on policy measures taken to curb the private sector credit growth in the period 2003-2008. Our analysis is based on an original survey performed on eleven central banks in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The findings reveal high intensity of policy intervention: altogether...

This paper analyzes political pressure on the National Bank of Slovakia, using the Havrilesky (1993) methodology based on media signalling. This methodology allows the pressure on the Central Bank of Slovakia to be compared with the pressure on the central banks to which the methodology was...