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In this paper, we present a monetary policy game in which the central bank has a private forecast of supply and demand shocks. The public needs to form its inflationary expectations and can make use of central bank announcements. However, because of the credibility problem that the central bank faces, the public will not believe a precise announcement. By extending the arrangement proposed by Garfinkel and Oh (1995) to a model that includes private information about both demand and supply shocks, we investigate the feasibility of making imprecise credible announcements concerning the rate of inflation. Klassifikation:E52;E58

The first part of this paper outlines the concept of democratic accountability of central banks, and compares the legal accountability of the ECB with some other central banks (Bank of Canada, Bank of Japan, Bank of England and the Federal Reserve System). In the second part, we present a theory of central bank accountability. Two aspects of accountability are considered: transparency of actual monetary policy and the question of who bears final responsibility for monetary policy. The paper shows that accountability through transparency leads to a lower expected rate of inflation and less stabilization of supply shocks. Accountability through shifting final responsibility in the direction of the government leads to higher inflationary expectations and more stabilization of supply shocks.

The first part of this paper outlines the concept of democratic accountability of central banks, and compares the legal accountability of the ECB with some other central banks (Bank of Canada, Bank of Japan, Bank of England and the Federal Reserve System). In the second part, we present a theory of central bank accountability. Two aspects of accountability are considered: transparency of actual monetary policy and the question of who bears final responsibility for monetary policy. The paper shows that accountability through transparency leads to a lower expected rate of inflation and less stabilization of supply shocks. Accountability through shifting final responsibility in the direction of the government leads to higher inflationary expectations and more stabilization of supply shocks. ; Der erste Teil dieses Papiers umreißt das Konzept der demokratischen Rechenschaftslegung von Zentralbanken und vergleicht die gesetzlich festgelegte Rechenschaftspflicht der EZB mit der einiger anderer Zentralbanken (Bank of Canada, Bank of Japan, Bank of England und Federal Reserve System). Im zweiten Teil stellen wir eine Theorie über die Rechenschaftspflicht der Notenbanken vor. Dabei werden zwei Aspekte der Rechenschaftspflicht in Betracht gezogen: die Transparenz der aktuellen Geldpolitik und die Frage, wer die endgültige Verantwortung für die Geldpolitik trägt. Das Papier zeigt auf, dass die Rechenschaftspflicht mittels Transparenz zu einer erwarteten niedrigeren Inflationsrate und einer geringeren Stabilisierung von Angebotsschocks führt. Dagegen führt die Rechenschaftspflicht mittels Verlagerung der endgültigen Verantwortung hin zur Regierung zu höheren Inflationserwartungen und einer stärkeren Stabilisierung von Angebotsschocks.

This paper develops a graphical method to determine the optimal degree of central bank conservativeness in an open economy. Unlike Rogoff (1985a), the upper & lower bounds of the interval containing the optimal degree of conservativeness are expressed in terms of the structural parameters of the model. It is shown that when optimal central bank conservativeness is higher, the higher the natural rate of unemployment, the greater the benefits of unanticipated inflation, the less inflation-averse society, the smaller the variance of productivity shocks, the smaller real exchange rate variability, & the smaller the openness of the economy. These propositions are tested for 19 industrial countries for the period 1960-1993. In testing the model, we employ a latent variables method (LISREL) in order to distinguish between actual & optimal monetary regimes. 1 Table, 1 Figure, 1 Appendix, 36 References. Adapted from the source document.