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Central bank independence in a historical perspective. Myth, lessons and a new model

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  • Blancheton, Bertrand

Abstract

This article puts the independence of central banks into historical perspective. In doing so, it underlines the highly versatile nature of the balance of forces between central banks and governments. From this viewpoint, the situation of public finances emerges as a key explanatory factor, and an analysis of the sequence of central banking models is proposed from the late 19th century to the present day. The article upholds the thesis of the emergence, since the subprime crisis, of a new model qualified as “tacit low-degree independence”: central banks have, of their own volition, given up some of their de facto independence, helping governments to contain the rise in national debt. But while keeping a step ahead of pressure from governments, they have lost the control of money supply.

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  • Blancheton, Bertrand, 2016. "Central bank independence in a historical perspective. Myth, lessons and a new model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 52(PA), pages 101-107.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:52:y:2016:i:pa:p:101-107
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2015.02.027
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    2. Ftiti, Zied & Aguir, Abdelkader & Smida, Mounir, 2017. "Time-inconsistency and expansionary business cycle theories: What does matter for the central bank independence–inflation relationship?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 215-227.
    3. Reinsberg, Bernhard & Kern, Andreas & Rau-Göhring, Matthias, 2021. "The political economy of IMF conditionality and central bank independence," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    4. MARTÍNEZ-RUIZ, Elena & NOGUES-MARCO, Pilar, 2018. "The Political Economy of Exchange Rate Stability During the Gold Standard. Spain 1874—1914," Discussion paper series HIAS-E-75, Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study, Hitotsubashi University.
    5. Garriga, Ana Carolina & Rodriguez, Cesar M., 2020. "More effective than we thought: Central bank independence and inflation in developing countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 87-105.
    6. Stephanos Papadamou & Moïse Sidiropoulos & Eleftherios Spyromitros, 2017. "Is There a Role for Central Bank Independence on Public Debt Dynamics?," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 7(1), pages 1-6.
    7. Jay Pil Choi & Taiji Furusawa & Jota Ishikawa, 2018. "Transfer Pricing and the Arm's Length Principle under Imperfect Competition," CESifo Working Paper Series 7303, CESifo.
    8. Miranda Escolar, Belen & Fernández Arufe, Josefa E., 2018. "Economía conductual, irracionalidad e incertidumbre en la Unión Europea/Behavioral Economics, Irrationality, Uncertainty and European Union," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 36, pages 49-66, Enero.
    9. Papadamou, Stephanos & Sidiropoulos, Moïse & Spyromitros, Eleftherios, 2017. "Does central bank independence affect stock market volatility?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 855-864.
    10. D. Masciandaro, 2019. "What Bird Is That? Central Banking And Monetary Policy In The Last Forty Years," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 19127, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    11. Nurlan Turdaliev, 2019. "Heterogeneity and monetary policy," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 128(2), pages 119-145, October.
    12. Stephanie L. Mudge & Antoine Vauchez, 2022. "Dependence on Independence. Central bank lawyers and the (un)making of the European economy," Post-Print hal-03913667, HAL.
    13. Jakub Bureš, 2017. "Herding Behaviour of Central Banks: Following the Fed and ECB," European Journal of Business Science and Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Business and Economics, vol. 3(1), pages 21-28.
    14. Moiseev, S., 2018. "The Independence of Central Bank: Concept, Methods and Impact of Global Financial Crisis," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 40(4), pages 110-136.
    15. Martínez-Ruiz, Elena & Nogues-Marco, Pilar, 2017. "The political economy of exchange rate stability during the gold standard. The case of Spain, 1874-1914," Working Papers unige:91510, University of Geneva, Paul Bairoch Institute of Economic History.
    16. Ludovic Desmedt & Matthieu Llorca, 2016. "L’euro, le bourdon et le banquier central," Post-Print hal-01430375, HAL.
    17. Masciandaro, Donato, 2022. "Independence, conservatism, and beyond: Monetary policy, central bank governance and central banker preferences (1981–2021)," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    18. Abel Mawuko Agoba & Joshua Yindenaba Abor & Kofi Achampong Osei & Jarjisu Sa-Aadu, 2020. "The Independence of Central Banks, Political Institutional Quality and Financial Sector Development in Africa," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 19(2), pages 154-188, August.
    19. Donato Masciandaro, 2021. "Central Bank Governance in Monetary Policy Economics (1981-2020)," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 21153, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    20. Samuel Demeulemeester, 2022. "Divorcing money creation from bank loans: revisiting the “100% money” proposal of the 1930s [Dissocier la création monétaire des prêts bancaires : retour sur la proposition "100% monnaie"," Post-Print hal-03938669, HAL.
    21. Stephanos Papadamou & Moïse Sidiropoulos & Eleftherios Spyromitros, 0. "Is There a Role for Central Bank Independence on Public Debt Dynamics?," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 0, pages 6.
    22. Ahmet Erülgen & Husam Rjoub & Ahmet Adalıer, 2020. "Bank Characteristics Effect on Capital Structure: Evidence from PMG and CS-ARDL," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-13, December.

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