Ivo Maes, A Century of Macroeconomic and Monetary Thought at the National Bank of Belgium

摘要

The National Bank of Belgium is a fortunate institution. There is a considerable array of publications that tell its history from its inception to the present times. Van der Wee and Tavernier wrote an excellent study in 1975 focused on the interwar period, and more recently, in 2005, Buyst, Maes, Pluym and Danneel have produced a full and very illustrative history of the Bank stressing its links with the international economy. The volume written by Ivo Maes serves to increase our knowledge of the institution, one of the oldest in the Continent, founded in 1850. Maes' book focuses on the creation, role and development of the research department of the National Bank of Belgium, and deals also with the major economic policy debates that took place within the Bank and between the economists of the Bank and the academic community, particularly with the active members of the Economic Institute of Leuven University.