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Why Do Politicians Implement Central Bank Independence Reforms?

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Author Info

  • Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov

    () (The Ratio Institute)

  • Hellström, Jörgen

    (Department of Economics, Umeå University)

  • Landström, Mats

    (Department of Economics, University of Gävle)

Abstract

This paper is a first empirical attempt to investigate why politicians around the world have chosen to give up power to independent central banks, thereby reducing their ability to fine-tune the economy. A new data-set covering 132 countries, of which 89 countries had implemented such reforms, was collected. Politicians in non-OECD countries were more likely to delegate power to independent central banks if their country has been characterized by a high variability in historical inflation and if they faced a high probability of being replaced. No such effects were found for OECD-countries.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by The Ratio Institute in its series Ratio Working Papers with number 143.

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Length: 43 pages
Date of creation: 07 Oct 2009
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0143

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Keywords: inflation; institutional reforms; monetary policy; time-inconsistency;

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References

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  1. Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov & de Luna, Xavier, 1998. "The Efficacy and Cost of Regime Shifts in Inflation Policies: Evidence from New Zealand and Sweden," UmeÃ¥ Economic Studies 475, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
  2. McCallum, Bennett T., 1997. "Crucial issues concerning central bank independence," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 99-112, June.
  3. Robert J. Barro & David B. Gordon, 1983. "A Positive Theory of Monetary Policy in a Natural-Rate Model," NBER Working Papers 0807, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  4. Cukierman, A. & Miller, G.P. & Neyapti, B., 2000. "Central Bank Reform, Liberalization and Inflation in Transition Economies: An International Perspective," Discussion Paper 2000-106, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
  5. Beck, T.H.L. & Demirgüç-Kunt, A. & Levine, R., 2000. "A new database on financial development and structure," Open Access publications from Tilburg University urn:nbn:nl:ui:12-3125518, Tilburg University.
  6. Cukierman, Alex & Webb, Steven B & Neyapti, Bilin, 1992. "Measuring the Independence of Central Banks and Its Effect on Policy Outcomes," World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 6(3), pages 353-98, September.
  7. Cukierman, A. & Webb, S., 1994. "Political Influence on the Central Bank : International Evidence," Discussion Paper 1994-100, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
  8. Gourieroux, Christian & Monfort, Alain & Renault, Eric & Trognon, Alain, 1987. "Generalised residuals," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1-2), pages 5-32.
  9. Alberto Alesina, 1988. "Macroeconomics and Politics," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1988, Volume 3, pages 13-62 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  10. Forder, James, 1996. "On the Assessment and Implementation of 'Institutional' Remedies," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 48(1), pages 39-51, January.
  11. Nader Habibi & F. M. Bagheri, 1997. "Political Institutions and Central Bank Independence : A Cross Country Analysis," Departmental Working Papers 973, Bilkent University, Department of Economics.
  12. Eijffinger, Sylvester & Schaling, Eric & Hoeberichts, Marco, 1998. "Central bank independence: A sensitivity analysis," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 73-88, February.
  13. Hayo, Bernd, 1998. "Inflation culture, central bank independence and price stability," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 241-263, May.
  14. de Haan, Jakob & van 't Hag, Gert Jan, 1995. " Variation in Central Bank Independence across Countries: Some Provisional Empirical Evidence," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 85(3-4), pages 335-51, December.
  15. Rogoff, Kenneth, 1985. "The Optimal Degree of Commitment to an Intermediate Monetary Target," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 100(4), pages 1169-89, November.
  16. Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov & de Luna, Xavier, 2002. "Central Bank Independence and Price Stability: Evidence from 23 OECD-countries," UmeÃ¥ Economic Studies 589, Umeå University, Department of Economics, revised 12 Jun 2003.
  17. Kydland, Finn E & Prescott, Edward C, 1977. "Rules Rather Than Discretion: The Inconsistency of Optimal Plans," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(3), pages 473-91, June.
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As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
  1. Central Bank Reform
    by Will Luther in the perfect substitute on 2010-03-15 12:07:00
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Cited by:
  1. Berggren, Niclas & Daunfeldt, Sven-Olof & Hellström, Jörgen, 2012. "Social Trust and Central-Bank Independence," Working Paper Series 920, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.

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