Introduction

This chapter provides the motivation and an overview of the book. During the last fifteen years, several innovations have been introduced in the art of central banking, that go under the name of “unconventional policies”. They have left a durable legacy, as the tools introduced under those policies remain in the toolkit of central banks. The focus of the book is on the operational framework, showing its evolution over time. The topic is relevant for the effectiveness of monetary policy, the institutional setup of central banks, and the smooth operation of money markets and financial intermediation. The book provides a simple model of monetary policy implementation, which is used to interpret the experience of some central banks, namely: ECB, Fed, BoE, and BoJ. Finally, two very innovative topics are addressed: Central Bank Digital Currency and “greening” monetary policy.