Preface. Part I: Surveys. 1. Varieties of Monetary Reforms; P.L. Siklos. 2. Optimal Currency Areas: a Fresh Look at the Traditional Criteria; P.R. Masson, M.P. Taylor. Part II: Exchange Rate Management. 3. Exchange Rate Pegging as a Disinflation Strategy: Evidence from the European Monetary System; R.C.K. Burdekin, J.R. Westbrook, T.D. Willett. 4. How Much to Commit to an Exchange Rate Rule: Balancing Credibility and Flexibility; A. Cukierman, M.A. Kiguel, N. Liviatan. Part III: Central Bank Independence. 5. Central Bank Dependence and Inflation Performance: an Exploratory Data Analysis; F.H. Capie, T.C. Mills, G.E. Wood. 6. Political Effects on Central Bank Behaviour: Some International Evidence; D.R. Johnson, P.L. Siklos. 7. Reputation, Central Bank Independence and the ECB; M. Fratianni, Haizhou Huang. 8. An Institutional Analysis of the Proposed European Central Bank with Comparisons to the U.S. Federal Reserve Systems; N. Beck. Part IV: Country Studies. 9. Monetary Union and Monetary Policy: a Review of the German Monetary Union; J. von Hagen. 10. Designing a Central Bank in a Federal System: the Deutsche Bundesbank, 1957--1992; S. Lohmann. 11. Rules, Discretion, and Central Bank Independence: the German Experience 1880--1989; B. Eschweiler, M.D. Bordo. 12. The Origins of the Monetary Union in the United States; A.J. Rolnick, B.D. Smith, W.E. Weber. 13. On the Coyne--Rasminsky Directive and Responsibility for Monetary Policy in Canada; T.K. Rymes. 14. Crippled Monetary Policy in Transforming Economies: Why Central Bank Independence does not Restore Control; I. Ábel, J.P. Bonin, P.L. Siklos. Index.