In this book Miroslav Beblavý, who has been involved in policy-making at the highest level in his country, offers a detailed study of monetary policy and monetary institutions in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia during the 1990s and the early 2000s and a more general look at monetary policy in less developed, but highly open and financially integrated market economies. Taking an innovative approach, this text focuses on a range of areas where few articles or books have been published and where very little empirical research has been undertaken, covers the topics of monetary policy frameworks, institutions inflation in transition and developing economies. As well as these border themes it analyzes specific factors that have significant influence on the conduct or outcomes of monetary policy including: the transmission mechanism of monetary policy in Central Europe use of principal types of constraints on policy discretion, such as central bank independence, exchange rate commitments and domestic targets for monetary policy. This book is a valuable resource for postgraduate students and research working or studying in the areas of development economics, public finance and banking.