Introduction

For most contemporary economists, the main goal of a central bank is to achieve price stability, that is, low and stable inflation. Financial management, regulation, and supervision are additional concerns that represent the prophetical element or “extension” of a central bank (Greenspan 1996). This position is rooted in a presupposition that goes back to the quantity theory of money, i.e. inflation has monetary origins and the central bank is the institution that controls the money supply. In the past, this view has been shared with more or less conviction by economists, but with the emergence of the New Neoclassical Synthesis, outputprice stability has become the overriding goal of a central bank, which is supposed to promote robust economic growth and financial stability.