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Central Bank Independence and Transparency: Evolution and Effectiveness

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Author Info
Christopher W. Crowe
Ellen E. Meade

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Abstract

This paper examines the current level of central bank independence (CBI) and transparency in a broad sample of countries using newly constructed measures, and looks at the evolution in both measures from an earlier time period. Increases in CBI have tended to occur in more democratic countries and in countries with high levels of past inflation. More independent central banks in turn tend to be more transparent, while transparency is also positively correlated with measures of national institutional quality. Exploiting the time dimension of our data to eliminate country fixed effects and using instrumental variable estimation to overcome endogeneity concerns, we present evidence that greater CBI is associated with lower inflation. We also find that enhanced transparency practices are associated with the private sector making greater use of information provided by the central bank.

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Paper provided by International Monetary Fund in its series IMF Working Papers with number 08/119.

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Length: 28 pages
Date of creation: 08 May 2008
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Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:08/119

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  27. Petra M. Geraats, 2006. "Transparency of Monetary Policy: Theory and Practice," CESifo Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 52(1), pages 111-152, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Nergiz Dincer & Barry Eichengreen, 2009. "Central Bank Transparency: Causes, Consequences and Updates," NBER Working Papers 14791, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Axel Lindner, 2008. "Evaluating communication strategies for public agencies: transparency, opacity, and secrecy," IWH Discussion Papers 8-08, Halle Institute for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  3. Christian A. Stoltenberg & Vadym Lepetyuk, 2009. "Policy announcements and welfare," Working Papers. Serie AD 2009-13, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie). [Downloadable!]
  4. Jonas Dovern & Ulrich Fritsche & Jiri Slacalek, 2009. "Disagreement among Forecasters in G7 Countries," Macroeconomics and Finance Series 200906, Hamburg University, Department Wirtschaft und Politik. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Dai, Meixing, 2008. "Public debt and currency crisis: how central bank opacity can make things bad?," MPRA Paper 13867, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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