Policy decentralization at the ECB : in-depth analysis

The decentralized implementation of ECB policy to national central banks has raised concerns about the transparency of policy operations. We argue that these concerns are misplaced: first, the sharp monetary easing under the assets purchase programme is actually allocated according to the capital key of the ECB; second, this allocation may feed divergences between the different Eurozone member states. Though the latter point is not part of the ECB mandate, we argue that another policy may well be possible.