Political Economy of the Swiss National Bank

1 A Reaction Function Study for the Swiss National Bank.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 The Concept of Reaction Functions.- 1.3 Reaction Functions for the SNB.- 1.4 The Data.- 1.5 Results: How the SNB Behaved.- 1.6 Conclusions.- 2 Deficits and Money Growth: Empirical Evidence for Switzerland.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 Budget Deficits and Money Growth.- 2.3 Previous Studies on the Impact of Fiscal Policy Variables on Swiss Monetary Policy.- 2.4 The Money Growth Equations.- 2.5 The Fiscal Data.- 2.6 Estimation Results.- 2.7 Conclusions.- 3 Elections and Monetary Policy: Is There a Political Monetary Cycle for Switzerland?.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 Models of Politico-Economic Cycles: An Overview.- 3.3 Application to Switzerland: Why Should There Exist a Political Monetary Cycle?.- 3.4 Comparing Economic Conditions for Election and Nonelection Years.- 3.5 Testing for Political Monetary Cycles.- 3.6 Conclusions.- 4 The Executive Central Bank Relationship: The Case of Switzerland.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 The Legal Relationship between Executive and Central Bank.- 4.3 Inflationary Performance as a Result of the Structure of the Executive.- 4.4 Inflationary Performance as a Result of Characteristics of the Swiss Political Market for Monetary Policy.- 4.5 De Facto (In)Dependence of the SNB: An Empirical Test.- 4.6 Conclusions.- 5 Legislative Influence on Monetary Policy? The Case of Switzerland.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 The Theory of Legislative Influence (or the 'New' Theory of Bureaucracy).- 5.3 Application of the 'New' Theory of Bureaucracy to Central Banks: Legislative Influence on the Federal Reserve.- 5.4 Legislative Influence on SNB Behavior?.- 5.5 Conclusions.- List of Abbreviations.- List of Tables and Figures.- References.