Abstract
This chapter describes the development of the European Central Bank (ECB) and its policies in the 20 years since the start of the euro. It does so against the backdrop of the broader economic and institutional developments in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), including the Global Financial Crisis and the European sovereign debt crisis. The ECB started as a new central bank that had to establish its reputation. Since then, it has arguably transformed into one of the most effective institutions in the European Union. The ECB has played a crucial role in containing the euro crisis and in strengthening the set-up of the monetary union, partly by implementing new policies and acquiring new tasks. While many of its policies are very similar to those of central banks in other advanced economies, some of them have been relatively more controversial in the constellation of the monetary union.
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de Beaufort Wijnholds, O. (2020). The European Central Bank: A New Power. In: The Money Masters. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40041-5_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40041-5_10
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