Monetary Authorities and the New Banking Environment

Abstract

The political role and economic weight attributed to central banks and monetary management were greatly enhanced during the past ten to fifteen years. The rediscovery of ‘money’ as an economically important variable, the need to fight high rates of inflation and the successful application of monetary ‘targetry’ to cure the inflation disease from which virtually all industrialised countries suffered, served to increase the reputation of central-bank policies and restored the public’s confidence in the technical efficiency of monetary management at least until the early 1980.