Juan Antonio Morales - Monetary Policy in Low Financial Development Countries

The book is the outgrowth of the course Macroeconomic and structural adjustment: monetary and financial aspects taught for many years by Paul Reding at the University of Namur in the Specialized Master in International and Development Economics. This programme is jointly organized by the University of Namur (UNamur) and the Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain), with the support of the Commission for Development Cooperation of the Belgian Acadmie de Recherche et dEnseignement suprieur (ARES). Most of the students enrolled in the programme come from developing countries. Juan Antonio Morales participated as invited academic scholar over several years, teaching parts of the course and letting students benefit from his wide experience in policy-making, having served as President of the Central Bank of Bolivia for more than ten years.

Based on the experience with successive cohorts of students, both of us found it worthwhile to develop further the material prepared for the course and to extend it into a book. True to its pedagogical roots, the book is set at an intermediate level. When it refers to a theoretical analysis, top priority is given to economic intuition. It employs little mathematical formalization, without sacrificing rigour. It relies widely on empirical illustrations, and backs the discussion with case studies. We hope that this perspective, as well as the depth and width that we have endeavoured to give to the book, will be of interest to lecturers and students as well as to scholars, practitioners. and other readers, curious about the role and characteristics of monetary policy in developing countries, especially in those which face specific challenges because of their incomplete financial development.

Preparing the book has been an adventure for both of us. It was been shaped during many short-term visits by Juan Antonio to Namur, at the department of economics, and by Paul to La Paz, at the department of Maestras para el Desarrollo of the Universidad Catlica Boliviana (UCB). It is the fruit of numerous exchanges, face to face or over the internet, through which we have developed our analysis, drawing on our respective strengths and experiences, organized the discussion, and crafted the presentation of the issues this book is about. The book has also benefited from extended discussions with colleagues, in particular during seminars that we have respectively given in Namur and La Paz. Interactions with our students, which we were fortunate to experience over so many years, have been a very strong encouragement to complete the book. This valuable support from our colleagues and students from both universities is gratefully acknowledged.

Financial support by ARES of the Specialized Master in International and Development Economics allowed Juan Antonio to teach in the programme and, ultimately, triggered the book. This support is gratefully acknowledged, as well as the support of UNamur and of the Belgian Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS), which allowed Paul to make several research stays at UCB in La Paz. The Tinker Foundation and the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund gave Juan Antonio the opportunity to discuss his experiences and ideas with colleagues and students at the Institute of Latin American Studies at Columbia University in New York while he was a visiting professor.