Resumen

GARCIA BANCHS, Ángel; MATA MOLLEJAS, Luis  y  NELL, Edward J.. International Monetary Asymmetries and the Central Bank. Inv. Econ [online]. 2008, vol.67, n.265, pp.145-187. ISSN 0185-1667.

Modern monetary theories both orthodox and heterodox have overlooked the fact that, after World War II, the world became divided among reserve issuing and reserve earning economies, allowing the international monetary system to become fully asymmetric. We propose that the study of monetary economies should take into account whether or not a country issues an international reserve currency, as that alters the whole picture. Moreover, we argue that international monetary asymmetries are the raison d'être behind diverse monetary practices throughout the world. The approach here has been to propose and compute some basic quantitative indexes based on balance sheet data from fifteen central banks belonging to North America, South America, Europe and Asia. The striking findings regarding the ratios, and the entirely different structures of assets and liabilities, confirm the above hypothesis. Monetary policy is less flexible but more influential in reserve earning economies and more flexible but less influential in reserve issuing ones. That is to say, the exogeneity of the short-term rate of interest is weaker in reserve earning economies, as the latter must be concerned with the accumulation of foreign currency assets and the stability of the foreign exchange rate. The reason is simple: their local currencies do not circulate abroad. Thus, although the supply of credit money is endogenous in such economies, they have not yet been able to free themselves fully from their dependence on (international) monetary reserves.

Palabras llave : Internacional Monetary Asymmetries; Central Banks.

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