List of figures; List of tables; Preface; List of conference participants; 1. Does Europe need its own central bank? Marcello de Cecco and Alberto Giovannini; 2. Monetary policy, capital controls and seigniorage in an open economy Allan Drazen; Discussion Guillermo A. Calvo and Marco Pagano; 3. Seigniorage in Europe Vittorio Grilli; Discussion Rudiger Dornbusch and Luigi Spaventa; Overview of chapters 2 and 3 Michael Bruno and Edmund S. Phelps; 4. Factor mobility, uncertainty and exchange rate regimes Giuseppe Bertola; Discussion William H. Branson, Fiorella Padoa Schioppa and Alan C. Stockman; 5. Management of a common currency Alessandra Casella and Jonathan Feinstein; Discussion Torsten Persson and Guido Tabellini; 6. The tastes of European central bankers Carlo Carraro; Discussion John Flemming and Alberto Giovannini; 7. The costs and benefits of a European currency Daniel Cohen; Discussion Alberto Alesina and Charles Wyplosz; 8. The monetary unification process in nineteenth-century Germany: relevance and lessons for Europe today Carl-Ludwig Holtrerich; Discussion Richard Portes; 9. The establishment of a central bank: Italy in the nineteenth century Valeria Sannucci; Discussion Charles Goodhart and Gianni Toniolo; 10. The founding of the Fed and the destabilization of the post-1914 US economy Jeffrey A. Miron; Discussion Marcello de Cecco and Barry Eichengreen; 11. Panel discussion on the prospects for a European Central Bank Rainer S. Masera, Wolfgang Rieke, Massimo Russo and Niels Thygesen; Index.