Table of Contents

1. Introduction David Cobham and Ghassan Dibeh Part 1: Central Banking and Monetary Policy 2. The Political Economy of Central Banking in the MENA Region with Special Reference to Lebanon Ghassan Dibeh 3. The Degree of Legal Central Bank Independence in MENA Countries: International Comparison and Macroeconomic Implications Enrico Gisolo 4. Monetary Policy Operations of Debtor Central Banks in MENA Countries Gunther Schnabl and Franziska Schober 5. Central Bank Independence in a MENA Transition Economy: The Experience of Algeria Abdallah Zouache and Mohamed-Cherif Ilmane 6. Inflation Targeting and Financial Fragility in Tunisia Adel Boughrara, Mongi Boughzala and Hassouna Moussa Part 2: Monetary Policy and Exchange Rate Regimes 7. Alternative Exchange Rate Regimes for MENA Countries: Gravity Model Estimates of the Trade Effects Christopher Adam and David Cobham 8. Exchange Rate Arrangements and Price Stability in MENA Countries Elias El-Achkar and Wassim Shahin 9. Exchange Rate Regimes for Small Countries: An Application to the Maghreb Countries Chrysost Bangaké, Jean-Baptiste Desquilbet and Nabil Jedlane 10. Estimating Central Bank Behaviour in Emerging Markets: The Case of Turkey Ozan Hatipoglu and C. Emre Alper 11. A Common Currency for Middle Eastern and North African Countries? Lessons from the European Monetary Union Sergio Rossi

About the Author

David Cobham is professor of economics at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, UK. His main research area is monetary policy, particularly the UK, but he also has an interest in Middle East economies. He has published papers in Economic Journal, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, World Development, International Finance, and other journals. Ghassan Dibeh is currently associate professor of economics at the Lebanese American University in Byblos. He is the editor of Review of Middle East Economics and Finance. His research interests include macroeconomics, political economy, financial economics and econophysics. His papers have appeared in Physica A, Review of Political Economy, Energy Economics, Journal of International Development and Middle Eastern Studies.