Executive summary 1

1 The European Central Bank after (nearly) three decades 2

2 ECB decision-making and the role of the Executive Board 4

 2.1 EB candidate selection 4

 2.2 Skill sets matter 5

 2.3 One country, one ECB board member 6

 2.4 Return to the initial practice of staggered board-member turnover 8

 2.5 Enlarge the Executive Board? 9

3 Communications 10

 3.1 Improving the quiet period 10

 3.2 Make meeting recaps more useful 12

4 Monetary policy strategy: what’s next? 12

 4.1 Establish an explicit timeline for reviews 13

 4.2 Is a point target for inflation still appropriate? 14

 4.3 Include housing in the inflation aggregate 15

5 Conclusion and summary of recommendations 16

 5.1 Summary of recommendations 17

References 18