Preface

Summary

This volume represents the second in an annual series of collaborations between the Italian Macroeconomic Policy Group and the Centre for Economic Policy Research. It contains the papers and proceedings from a conference on ‘Monetary Regimes and Monetary Institutions: Issues and Perspectives in Europe’, held at Castelgandolfo on 17/18 June 1988. The first volume of this series, High Public Debt: The Italian Experience, edited by Francesco Giavazzi and Luigi Spaventa, was published by Cambridge University Press in June 1988.

The programme committee for the conference were the members of the Italian Macroeconomic Policy Group. The participation of CEPR in this project stems both from the great interest in the topic of the conference outside Italy, and from the involvement of members of IMPG such as Francesco Giavazzi and Alberto Giovannini, who contribute to the activities of CEPR as Research Fellows, and Giorgio Barevi, a Governor of the Centre.

We are grateful to Euromobiliare SpA, Centro Europa Ricerche, and Prometeia, who provided financial support for the conference series, and to the Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi, who hosted the meeting at Villa Montecucco in Castelgandolfo. We are especially grateful to Paul Compton at CEPR, for extremely fast and efficient handling of all the arrangements necessary to publish the volume, and to John Black for his efforts as production editor.