Central banks' independence in historical perspective

Gianni Toniolo is Professor of Economics at the Universit di Roma Tor Vergata (Italy) and Research Professor of Economics at Duke University. A former professor of Economics and chair of the Economics Department at the University of Venice, he has held visiting positions at All Souls College and St. Antonys College, Oxford, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, and the University of Connecticut. He is also a Research Fellow in the Centre for Economic Policy Research in London and a member of the European Academy. Professor Toniolo is the author of several books in Italian and English on European and Italian economic growth from 1800 to the present and the history of financial markets and institutions with special reference to central banking, including The European Economy between the Wars (1997, with C. H. Feinstein and P. Temin) and An Economic History of Liberal Italy, 1850-1918 (1990). He is the editor of 17 books, including Patterns of European Industrialization: the Nineteenth Century (1991, with R. E. Sylla), Central Banks Independence in Historical Perspective (1988), and Economic Growth in Europe Since 1945 (Cambridge University Press, 1996, with N. Crafts). Professor Toniolo is co-editor (with P. Ciocca and G. Federico) of Rivista di Storia Economica.

Frontmatter -- Foreword -- Table of Contents -- Chapter 1. Central Bank Autonomy: A Historical Perspective -- Chapter 2. The Autonomy of Monetary Authorities: The Case of the U.S. Federal Reserve System -- Chapter 3. The Bank of England: Relationships with the Government, the Civil Service, and Parliament -- Chapter 4. The Banque de France and the State from 1850 to the Present Day -- Chapter 5. Relations between Monetary Authorities and Governmental Institutions: The Case of Germany from the 19th Century to the Present -- Chapter 6. A Central Bank Between the Government and the Credit System: The Bank of Italy after World War II -- About the Authors -- 199-202