INTRODUCTION

Jürgen von Hagen and Matthias Brückner have written a comprehensive and engaging summary of the European Central Bank's (ECB) first few years. They survey all of the ECB's salient institutional features and discuss its policy outcomes. In this comment, I will summarize much of the same material, but from a different vantage point; therefore, this comment is more a complement to the excellent von Hagen and Brückner paper than a critical evaluation.

Let me preface my remarks about the ECB by saying that all of my criticisms are made in an effort to improve what is already an extraordinary product. I sit in awe of the job that has been done in Frankfurt by the ECB's Executive Board and staff and by the governors and staffs of the 12 national central banks that have joined the European Monetary Union. The real measure of success of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) is how truly minor our criticisms are. As I write this, the ECB has been in existence for three years and making policy for two and a half. Could any of us have done better?

That said, I will now discuss the relationship of the national central banks to the ECB, the policy strategy, issues of communication and transparency, policy performance, and future challenges.