In November 2010 Norges Bank organised an international symposium on the topic "What is a useful central bank?" which marked the occasion that Governor Svein Gjedrem by the end of 2010 had fully served the second of his two terms as governor of Norges Bank. This book contains the proceedings from the symposium. We are proud to present articles written by well known international experts and leading policy makers. The contributions to the symposium cover a broad range of issues. Governor Svein Gjedrem set the stage on Wednesday 17 November when he gave the speech Making use of the central bank. The speech was given in Norwegian but the English translation is included as Chapter 1 in this book. On Thursday 18 November five papers were presented on topics ranging from historical perspectives on central banking and lessons from the interwar years to current issues related to central banking in emerging economies, the interaction between fiscal policy and monetary policy and central bank governance. The final session of the symposium offered a two hour panel debate on Where do central banks go from here? The panel consisted of leading academic experts and central bank officials and was moderated by Professor Stefan Gerlach from the Institute of Monetary and Financial Stability at the University of Frankfurt. We are happy to include all panelists’ introductions in the proceedings.