Recent crises have cast doubt on the legitimacy of technocratic power, yet its role in global economic governance remains poorly understood. Revisiting the collapse of Bretton Woods, we propose a dynamic theory of global monetary governance to explain how expanding central bank discretion can...

This paper investigates the impact of reforms altering legal central bank independence (CBI) on monetary policy discipline and credibility, two key mechanisms shaping price stability. Using a sample of 155 countries over more than 50 years (1972-2023), we show that reforms improving CBI...

This paper examines the impact of rising interest rates on central bank profitability. Using a stylized income model, we demonstrate that changes in interest rates in combination with expansive balance sheet policies introduce a cyclical component into the central bank's profit and loss...

The expansion of central bank balance sheets has become a critical topic in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. Central banks have taken unprecedented measures to ensure price stability and financial stability, particularly when traditional policy tools were...

This paper investigates the nexus between poverty and central bank independence in developing countries. The study examines data from up to 35 developing countries from 2000 to 2018. Using the GMM dynamic panel data method, the study finds that de jure central bank independence is more robust...

This paper empirically examines the effect of the central banks independence on exchange rate volatility by using a large data-set for the E7 (7 emerging countries) covering the period 1998-2017. This paper applies the time-varying panel causality analysis to obtain country-based results. The...

Recent empirical research finds little or mixed evidence in favour of a negative relationship between central bank independence and inflation. In this paper, we construct a theory where the relationship between inflation and central bank independence depends on the extent of informational...

The research work presented below addresses the possible concern of central bank independence through the development and application of econometric models. The complexity of the modelling has allowed a step further in corroborating that financial independence is not only linked to the...

This study aims to examine the effects of monetary policies implemented by developed countries and central bank independence of developing countries on the financial fragility of developing countries. According to the findings, it was seen that the contractionary monetary policies implemented by...

This paper analyzes the impact on income inequality of a set of variables usually considered in the growth literature as potential growth determinants. There is evidence to suggest that unemployment and inflation are positively associated with income inequality; except for countries with central...

This paper presents an extensive update to the Central Bank Independence - Ex- tended (CBIE) index, originally developed in Romelli (2022), extending its coverage for 155 countries from 1923 to 2023. The update reveals a continued global trend towards enhancing central bank independence, which...

This study examines the effect of regulatory independence of the central bank in shaping the impact of electoral cycles on bank lending behaviour in Africa. It employs the dynamic system Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM) Two-Step estimator for a panel dataset of 54 African countries over the...

This paper constructs a new index for measuring de jure central bank independence, the first entirely new index in three decades. The index draws on a comprehensive dataset from the IMF's Central Bank Legislation Database (CBLD) and Monetary Operations and Instruments Database (MOID) and...

The paper analyses the role of national central banks (NCBs) in the governance of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), NCBs are the owners of the European Central Bank (ECB), and their governors dominate the ECB's Governing Council, but in monetary policy operations, NCBs are...

In March 2024, the European Central Bank published the results of a review of its operational framework. After discussing how the ECB operational framework has changed since the Great Financial Crisis, we provide an assessment of the review, which we deem as premature, and highlight some gaps it...

This paper investigates the determinants of countries' choice of monetary policy frameworks (MPF) for emerging and developing countries. Countries make different MPF choices and we think it is because they have different country-level characteristics (e.g. democratic strength and trade...

Trust in the central bank is an essential ingredient for a successful conduct of monetary policy. However, for many central banks trust has recently declined, for instance in the wake of the post-pandemic inflation surge, due to large errors in central banks' inflation forecasts, or given...

This article examines the effects of monetary integration on the synchronization of the business cycle within ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) and contributes to the economic literature dealing with these aspects. First, the indicators of de facto and de jure central bank...

Leon Wansleben's new book, The Rise of Central Banks, explains how central banks have emerged as powerful monetary governors over the past half-century. Yet the book's recognition that central banks cannot extricate themselves from quantitative easing and market bailouts begs the question: what...

What role could unconventional monetary policy - and particularly unconventional policies like private asset purchases under a quantitative easing or lender of last resort scheme - play in influencing economic growth directly? A wide literature in economics explores the pros and cons of using...