Central banking and financial political power: An investigation into the European Central Bank

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manolis Kalaitzake
Keyword(s):  
Central Bank ◽  
European Central Bank ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Financial Sector ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Central Banks ◽  
Central Banking ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
European Central ◽  
Revolving Doors

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, there has been a major scholarly revival of the topic of financial political power and a refocus on questions concerning democracy, elites, and inequality. Nevertheless, there remains a dearth in the literature regarding the precise nature of the political relationship between the financial sector and central banks. This is problematic given the sharp rise in institutional prominence enjoyed by central bank officials in the post crisis era and their fundamental importance in the governance of financial markets. As a corrective, this paper develops a provisional analytical framework through which the power dynamics between the financial sector and central banks can be fruitfully explored, specifically with reference to the European Central Bank. It does so by identifying four mechanisms through which financial actors potentially influence the policy choices of the European Central Bank – revolving doors, closed policy circles, capital flight/disinvestment, Too Big to Fail – and illustrates their operation empirically in the context of the bank’s organizational functioning and post crisis interventions. The paper illustrates how financial actors enjoy systematic advantages in the domain of central bank policymaking and provides significant evidence that the European Central Bank has been a key ally of the financial sector throughout the Eurozone crisis. The paper calls for a more extensive examination by scholars of the financial sector-central bank relationship as a means to clarify the precise scope of, and limitations to, contemporary financial political power.

scholarly journals Unconventional monetary policy of the European Central Bank: A brief recapitulation

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Ilona Skibińska-Fabrowska
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Central Bank ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Financial Market ◽  
European Central Bank ◽  
Central Banks ◽  
Unconventional Monetary Policy ◽  
European Central ◽  
National Bank

<p>The financial and economic crisis that has hit many economies in recent years has significantly increased the activity of central banks. After using the standard instruments of conducting monetary policy, in view of the obstruction of monetary impulse transmission channels, they reached for non-standard instruments. Among them, asset purchase programs played a signifciant role. The European Central Bank (ECB) launched the largest asset purchase programme (APP) of this type in 2014 and expired in December 2018. The aim of the undertaken activities was to improve the situation on the financial market and stimulate economic growth. The article reviews the literature and results of research on the effects of the program and indicates the possibility of using the ECB’s experience in conducting monetary policy by the National Bank of Poland.</p>

scholarly journals Comparison of the Approach of the Czech National Bank and the European Central Bank to the Effects of the Global Financial Crisis

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 18-46
Author(s):  
Andrea Cecrdlova
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Interest Rate ◽  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Central Bank ◽  
European Central Bank ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Central Banks ◽  
European Central ◽  
National Bank ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis

The latest global crisis, which fully erupted in 2008, can have a significant impact on central banks credibility in the long run. During the last crisis, monetary authorities encountered zero interest rate levels and, as a result, started to use non-standard monetary policy instruments. The Czech National Bank decided to use a less standard instrument in November 2013, when it started to intervene on the foreign exchange market in order to keep the Czech currency at level 27 CZK / EUR. However, the European Central Bank also adopted a non-standard instrument, when chose a path of quantitative easing in 2015 in order to support the euro area economy by purchasing financial assets. The question remains whether the approach of Czech National Bank or the approach of European Central Bank in the crisis and post-crisis period was a more appropriate alternative. With the passage of time from the global financial crisis, it is already possible to compare the approaches of these two central banks and at least partially assess what approach was more appropriate under the given conditions. When comparing the central banks approaches to the crisis, the Czech National Bank was better, both in terms of the rate of interest rate cuts and the resulting inflation with regard to the choice of a non-standard monetary policy instrument. The recent financial crisis has revealed the application of moral hazard in practice, both on behalf of the European Central Bank and the Czech National Bank, which may have a significant impact on their credibility and independence in the coming years.

scholarly journals Análisis de la integración y dependencia de las políticas monetarias de la Unión Europea

2013 ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
María del Carmen González Velasco ◽  
Roque Brinckmann
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Central Bank ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
European Central Bank ◽  
Central Banks ◽  
Uncovered Interest Parity ◽  
European Central ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Bank Of England ◽  
Interest Parity

En este artículo se efectúa un análisis de la integración y dependencia de las políticas monetarias de la Unión Europea y, en concreto, de las políticas monetarias de la Unión Económica yMonetaria y de la zona no euro para el periodo comprendido entre Enero de 1999 y Septiembre 2009. Se aplica la metodología de la cointegración de Engle y Granger (1987) y de Johansen(1988) para contrastar la hipótesis de la paridad de tipos de interés no cubierta y se llega a la conclusión de que ambas políticas están cointegradas porque mantienen una relación de equilibrio a largo plazo. También se deduce una dependencia de la política del Banco de Inglaterra de la política del Banco Central Europeo, lo que confirma la importancia y el liderazgo de la Unión Económica y Monetaria.<br /><br />This study is to investigate the long-run relationship and dependence between the UME´s monetary policy and non-euro zone´s monetary policy for the period from January 4, 1999 to September 30, 2009. We use cointegration methodology to test the Uncovered Interest Parity Hypothesis and the results indicate a long-run cointegration and empirical evidence testifies a leader-follower pattern between the two central banks. According to this pattern, the Bank of England does follow the European Central Bank.

The European Central Bank

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Zilioli ◽  
Phoebus Athanassiou
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Central Bank ◽  
Monetary Union ◽  
European Central Bank ◽  
Central Banks ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Central ◽  
European System ◽  
The Eu

The provisions on Monetary Union (MU), of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union (TFEU or the Treaty), as well as the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (the Statute), are important in their own right, and are amongst those from which any student of the European Union (EU) can learn a great deal with regard to the EU.

Does politics drive conflict in central banks’ committees? Lifting the veil on the European Central Bank consensus

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-203
Author(s):  
Manuela Moschella ◽  
Nicola M Diodati
Keyword(s):  
Central Bank ◽  
European Central Bank ◽  
Semantic Distance ◽  
Central Banks ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Projected Image ◽  
European Central ◽  
The Veil ◽  
Central Bankers

This study investigates whether and to what extent political factors drive disagreement within the allegedly consensual monetary committee of the European Central Bank. Absent voting data, the article assesses disagreement based on the semantic distance between the policy positions publicly articulated by the European Central Bank President and the central banks of Eurozone member states. The empirical analysis shows that the disagreement articulated by national central bankers is affected by the ideological inclinations of the governments of the countries they represent. Our findings thus suggest that central bankers’ position-taking is shaped not only by economic conditions but also by domestic political considerations. This result challenges the European Central Bank’s projected image of itself as an institution whose members are impermeable to domestic political pressures as a way to defend the independence of the institution to which they belong.

scholarly journals Central banking and the infrastructural power of finance: the case of ECB support for repo and securitization markets

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Braun
Keyword(s):  
Financial Markets ◽  
European Central Bank ◽  
Central Banks ◽  
Central Banking ◽  
State Agency ◽  
Central Position ◽  
European Central ◽  
Transaction Tax ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Infrastructural Power

Abstract The pre-crisis rise and post-crisis resilience of European repo and securitization markets represent political victories for the interests of large banks. To explain when and how finance wins, the literature emphasizes lobbying capacity (instrumental power) and the financial sector’s central position in the economy (structural power). Increasingly, however, finance also enjoys infrastructural power, which stems from entanglements between specific financial markets and public-sector actors, such as treasuries and central banks, which govern by transacting in those markets. To demonstrate the analytical value of this perspective, the article traces how the European Central Bank (ECB), motivated by monetary policy considerations, has shaped post-crisis financial policymaking in the EU. It shows that the ECB has played a key part in fending off a financial transaction tax on repos and in shoring up and rebuilding the securitization market. With market-based forms of state agency on the rise, infrastructural entanglement and power shed new light on the politics of finance.

Writing Clearly: The ECB’s Monetary Policy Communication

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleš Bulíř ◽  
Martin Čihák ◽  
Kateřina Š Šmídkova
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Central Bank ◽  
European Central Bank ◽  
Central Banks ◽  
Press Releases ◽  
Central Bank Communication ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
European Central ◽  
Policy Communication ◽  
Better Than

Abstract The article presents a novel methodology for measuring the clarity of central bank communication using content analysis, illustrating the methodology with the case of the European Central Bank (ECB). The analysis identifies the ECB’s written communication as clear in about 85-95% of instances, which is comparable with, or better than, similar results available for other central banks. We also find that the additional information on risk to inflation and especially projection risk assessment contained in the ECB’s Monthly Bulletins helps to improve communication clarity compared to ECB’s press releases. In contrast, the bulletin’s communication on monetary developments has a negative, albeit small, impact on clarity.

scholarly journals Does the real estate market behavior predict the trust crisis in the financial sector? The case of the ECB and the Euro

Equilibrium ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 711-740
Author(s):  
Maryna Brychko ◽  
Tetyana Vasilyeva ◽  
Zuzana Rowland ◽  
Serhiy Lyeonov
Keyword(s):  
Real Estate ◽  
Central Bank ◽  
European Central Bank ◽  
Financial Sector ◽  
Real Estate Market ◽  
Market Behavior ◽  
The Real Estate ◽  
European Central ◽  
The Real Estate Market ◽  
Primary Institutions

Research background: Based on the history of financial crises, real estate market behavior could be thought of as a key benchmark of trust shifts in the financial sector of the economy. Plunging real estate asset prices accompanied by the financial "bubbles" explosion could be viewed as the harbinger ? even the cause ? of the public trust crash in the financial sector. Purpose of the article: This study intends to assess the extent to which the real estate market behavior determinants, along with financial sector consumers' feelings, are able to predict trust crises in the financial sector, namely to its primary institutions ? European Central Bank and the Euro. Methods: In order to estimate the probability of a trust crisis in the financial sector, two logistic regression logit models were developed based on two types of dependent variables as they reflect trust violations in the financial system primary institutions ? net trust in European Central Bank (Model I) and net support for the Euro (Model II). The research was conducted on quarterly panel data of the EU countries from the euro area covering the period from 2000 to 2019. Logit regressions employed for data processing and analysis were performed in the computational system STATISTICA. Findings & value added: The logit-modeling results show that determinants of irrational real estate buyers' behavior are powerless in predicting the escalation of the trust crisis in the Euro. However, binary models of real estate market behavior could be successfully used to predict the probability of the trust crisis in the European Central Bank. The results show that real house price indices, price to income ratio, price to rent ratio, and rent prices accompanied by the financial sector consumers' feelings are statistically significant, providing the best distribution between the normal times and periods of trust crisis in the European Central Bank. Irrational real estate market behavior may indicate serious problems in the trust violations in the European Central Bank, and it should be a signal for policymakers to take actions towards more efficient financial and real estate market regulation following the behavioral approach.

scholarly journals Management of Foreign Exchange Reserves of the European Central Bank

2021 ◽  
Vol 127 ◽  
pp. 499-512
Author(s):  
Paweł Sitek
Keyword(s):  
Central Bank ◽  
Foreign Exchange ◽  
European Central Bank ◽  
Central Banks ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Foreign Exchange Reserves ◽  
Foreign Reserve ◽  
European Central ◽  
Reserve Management

The aim of the article is to analyze the foreign exchange reserves of the European Central Bank and the methods of their modern management. As a result of the study, it was proven that when implementing foreign reserve management policy, the European Central Bank and national central banks should pursue the objectives of the current monetary policy for future generations. Foreign exchange reserves are a special good that only the current generation and the current government cannot use. The character of the article implies different research methods: analysis of the sources of law, legal dogmatic, comparative dogmatic method. The analysis carried out as part of the study indicates that management of foreign exchange reserves of ECB has an impact on intergenerational justice.

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