Papers & Opinions

Central banking | Political institutions | Regulation

Central Bank Independence in Latin America: Politicization and De-delegation

Paper

Posted on 20 April 2023

By Ana Carolina Garriga

In the last three decades, legal delegation of monetary policy to independent central banks (CBI) has achieved the status of a global norm of good governance. The recent backlash against this...
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Banking | Central banking | Empirics

Connected Lending of Last Resort

Paper

Posted on 9 February 2023

By Kris Mitchener

Because of secrecy, little is known about the political economy of central bank lending. Utilizing a novel, hand-collected historical daily dataset on loans to commercial banks, we analyze how personal...
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Central banking | Empirics | Political institutions

(In)dependent Central Banks

Paper

Posted on 25 January 2023

By Alex Michaelides

Since the 1980s many countries have reformed the institutional framework governing their central banks to increase operational independence. Collecting systematic biographical information, international press coverage, and independent expert opinions, we...
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Central banking | Electoral politics | Political institutions

Ideology and Monetary Policy

Paper

Posted on 25 May 2022

By Nicolo Fraccaroli

We investigate the link between ideology and the sentiments of parliamentarians when they speak to the central bank they hold accountable. To this end, we collect textual data on the...
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Central banking | Empirics | Political institutions

Central Banks and Civil War Termination

Paper

Posted on 30 April 2022

By Ana Carolina Garriga

The ability to finance conflict likely affects the odds of sustaining a war and succeeding in it. Recent literature explores rebel group funding, but far less is known about how...
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Banking | Central banking | Electoral politics | Empirics | Political institutions

Central Banks in Parliaments

Paper

Posted on 10 October 2021

By Nicolo Fraccaroli

This paper investigates whether parliamentary hearings are effective in holding central banks accountable against their mandates. To this end, it applies text analysis on the hearings of the Bank of...
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Central banking | Empirics | Financial markets | Regulation

The Partisanship of Financial Regulators

Paper

Posted on 27 September 2021

By Matthew Henriksson

We analyze the partisanship of Securities and Exchange Commissioners (SEC) and members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (Fed). Using the language-based approach of Gentzkow, Shapiro, and Taddy (Econometrica,...
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Central banking | Political institutions

The Political Economy of Reforms in Central Bank Design

Paper

Posted on 25 September 2021

By Davide Romelli

What explains the worldwide changes in central bank design over the past five decades? Using a new dataset on central bank institutional design, this paper investigates the timing, pace and...
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Central banking | Political institutions

Political Voice on Monetary Policy: Evidence from the Parliamentary Hearings of the European Central Bank

Paper

Posted on 30 August 2021

By Davide Romelli

Previous scholarship on central bank accountability has generally focused on monetary authorities' deeds and words while largely ignoring the other side of the accountability relationship, namely politicians' voice on monetary...
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Banking | Central banking | Theory

Monetary Policy with Reserves and CBDC: Optimality, Equivalence, and Politics

Paper

Posted on 11 August 2021

By Dirk Niepelt

We analyze the introduction of retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) into a two-tiered monetary system. Deposits, reserves, and CBDC differ in terms of operating costs and liquidity. We identify the optimal...
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Central banking | Political institutions | Regulation | Special interest politics

Political Economy in Finance

Opinion

Posted on 6 July 2021

By Enrico Perotti

This post reports on recent work presented at the first edition of the CEPR Conference Series on the Political Economy of Finance, which focused on the politics of regulation and...
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Central banking | Empirics

Fifty Shades of QE: Comparing Findings of Central Bankers and Academics

Paper

Posted on 3 July 2021

By Elisabeth Kempf

We compare the findings of central bank researchers and academic economists regarding the macroeconomic effects of quantitative easing (QE). We find that central bank papers find QE to be more...
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Banking | Central banking | Empirics

Can Competition Between Regulated and Unregulated Institutions Affect Financial Stability?

Paper

Posted on 2 July 2021

By Eric Monnet

In the paper "The Real Effects of Bank Runs. Evidence from the French Great Depression (1930-1931)" we study how competition between regulated and unregulated institutions can trigger financial instability and...
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Central banking | Corporate finance | Political institutions

(Why) Do Central Banks Care About Their Profits?

Paper

Posted on 1 July 2021

By Martin Schmalz

We document that central banks are significantly more likely to report slightly positive profits than slightly negative profits, especially amid greater political pressure, the public’s receptiveness to more extreme political...
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Central banking | Political institutions | Theory

The Euro as a Diverse Monetary Union

Paper

Posted on 21 May 2021

By Oscar Soons

We analyze the political economy causes and consequences of a monetary unification among countries with different institutional quality. Before a common currency countries with stronger institutions have more efficient public...
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