Currency, credit and crisis: central banking in Ireland and Europe

Table of Contents Introduction Part I. Currency: 1. Fixed or floating 2. Toward the euro 3. The euro area crisis Part II. Credit: 4. Safe and sound banking 5. Faults in financial services 6. The role of the central bank Part III. Crisis: 7. The guarantee 8. The race to stabilize the banks 9. The bailout 10. Cleaning-up Part IV. Taking Stock: 11. The European decade of bank failure 12. The Irish economy in boom and bust 13. Lessons learnt.

The global financial crisis in 2008 brought central banking to the centre stage, prompting questions about the role of national central banks and - in Europe - of the multi-country European Central Bank. What can central banks do, and what are their limitations? How have they performed? Currency, Credit and Crisis seeks to provide a coherent perspective on the functions of a central bank in a small country by assessing the way in which Ireland's financial crisis from 2010 to 2013 was handled. Drawing on his experiences as Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland and in research and policy work at the World Bank, Patrick Honohan offers a detailed analytical narrative of the origins of the crisis and of policy makers' conduct during its most fraught moments. Offers an account of Ireland's boom, bust and recovery from the viewpoint of a central banker Takes a historical approach to Ireland's financial crisis, noting alternative policy choices that have been made by Ireland in the past and by other countries in similar circumstances Assesses the proper role of central banks and their relationship with the European Union going forward