This book examines contemporary issues affecting global economies. The seven-year period under discussion in the book reflects critical moments of the COVID-19 pandemic and the collapse of supply chains. The primary focus is on central banks such as the Federal Reserve (Fed) in the United States, the European Central Bank (ECB), the National Bank of Poland (NBP), and the Bank of Japan (BoJ), more specifically, their response to these crises.

It demonstrates that the effectiveness of a central bank's response depends not only on the strength of the response but also on the type of crisis to which it responds and the institutional framework within which it does so. It highlights that the Fed's response is the most exemplary and classical, while the NBP's responses were more defensive than pre-emptive - the supply crisis associated with the Russia–Ukraine war led to decisions being driven by costs rather than demand. The ECB struggled with the greatest heterogeneity in transmission, which limited the effectiveness of interest rates and allowed for an increased role of its balance sheet. On the other hand, the BoJ represents a situation in which even a broad set of tools does not guarantee a strong impact on the economy if the monetary policy regime has been extremely expansionary for a long period. In addition to the four banks mentioned above, the Bank of England, the Bank of China, and the Bank of Sweden are briefly discussed to further describe the scale of the problems in those years.

The book is intended for researchers in the field of central banking or macroeconomists studying crises.

Wojciech Świder is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Finance, Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poland.

Krzysztof Łuczka is a researcher at Poznań University of Economics and Business, Poland.