Schweizerische Nationalbank : Swiss National Bank publishes Festschrift in honour of Ernst Baltensperger

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Berne, 16 June 2017

Swiss National Bank publishes Festschrift in honour of Ernst Baltensperger

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is publishing a Festschrift entitled Monetary Economic Issues Today to commemorate the 75th birthday of Swiss economist and monetary theorist Ernst Baltensperger. The work, which contains academic articles by 27 authors, provides a cross-section of research currently being undertaken in Switzerland into macro, monetary, banking and financial market economics; it is pitched at both experts and non-specialist readers. The Festschrift offers detailed, yet accessible and diverse, insights into the workings of economic policy and the financial system.

Ernst Baltensperger is Professor Emeritus of Macroeconomics at the University of Bern and a long-time academic advisor to the SNB. An internationally renowned scholar and author in the fields of banking as well as monetary theory and policy, his work has frequently helped decision makers to understand and solve contemporary economic policy challenges. Over the years, Ernst Baltensperger has also been instrumental in shaping public opinion on a broad range of economic issues.

Through his research, Ernst Baltensperger has been closely associated with the SNB for more than forty years. He has offered important policy advice at numerous junctures in the course of these four decades.

The Festschrift was presented today in Berne at a book launch featuring a podium discussion on contemporary monetary economics. The volume is being published by Orell Füssli of Zurich and will be on sale in bookshops from Monday, 19 June 2017.

The guest of honour himself, the three members of the SNB's Governing Board as well as Otmar Issing (former member of the executive board and chief economist at the European Central Bank) and Dirk Niepelt (director of the Study Center Gerzensee and professor at the

Berne, 16 June 2017

Press release

University of Bern) all contributed to the programme. A video of the event will be available on the SNB's website (www.snb.ch) under 'Research TV' from 30 June.