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Post-Pandemic Greenness? How Central Banks Use Narratives to Become Green

Author

Listed:
  • Radu Șimandan

    (Department of Economics, Polytechnic University of Bucharest, 060042 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Cristian Valeriu Păun

    (Department of International Business and Economics, Bucharest University of Economics, 010374 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Bogdan Glăvan

    (Department of Trade, Economic Integration and Business Administration, Romanian-American University, 012101 Bucharest, Romania)

Abstract

Suggested only a few years ago, green central banking has received a new impetus with the central bank interventions implemented in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several central banks, with the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE) being prominent examples, have stepped up their public communication on this issue in an effort to explain and justify their planned or ongoing policy actions. Carefully recorded and easy to find, these public communication messages are a rich source of insight into the process of monetary policy formation. In this article, we analyze the messages from two central banks, with the primary objective of identifying the narratives they use (if any) and describing the key features of these narratives, thus shedding new light on an ongoing process of policy change. A secondary objective of the article is to contribute to the growing literature related to the use of narratives in public policy by studying narratives in monetary policy through qualitative means, an approach that, to date, has received relatively little attention from scholars. To this end, we discuss two expectations related to the use of policy narratives derived from the literature. Thus, we hope to show how the two central banks devise and deploy narratives to help implement an unprecedented turnaround in monetary policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Radu Șimandan & Cristian Valeriu Păun & Bogdan Glăvan, 2023. "Post-Pandemic Greenness? How Central Banks Use Narratives to Become Green," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-28, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:2:p:1630-:d:1035602
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    References listed on IDEAS

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