The papers collected in this volume are those presented at the eleventh Colloquium arranged by the Societe Universitaire Europeenne de Recherches Financieres (SUERF) which took place in Madrid in October 1983. The Society is supported by a large number of central banks, commercial banks and other financial and business institutions, by treasury officials and by academics and others interested in monetary and financial problems. Since its establishment in 1963 it has developed as a forum for the exchange of informa­ tion, research results and ideas, valued by academics and practitioners in these fields, including central bank officials and civil servants responsible for formulat­ ing and applying monetary and financial policies. A major activity of SUERF is to organize and conduct Colloquia on sub­ jects of topical interest to members. The titles, places and dates of previous Col­ loquia for which volumes of the collected Papers were published are noted on the last page of this volume. Volumes were not produced for Colloquia held at Tarra­ gona, Spain in October 1970 under the title "Monetary Policy and New Develop­ ments in Banking" and at Strasbourg, France in January 1972 under the title "Aspects of European Monetary Union".