Davies, Howard, (2016), “Taking Monetary Policy to the People”, Project Syndicate, 25 October
For the last 20 years, central-bank independence has marked a kind of “end of history” for monetary policy, after many other regimes were tried and failed. In the years before the 2008 global financial crisis, independent central banks were seen as successful in controlling inflation; and countries with sizable fiscal deficits were especially enthusiastic about central-bank independence because they benefited from lower long-term interest rates. Central banks that also regulate the banking industry were asked tough questions about their insouciance in the face of rapid credit expansion, but they were widely praised for their prompt and decisive response when trouble hit.
Relevant Posts
- Cukierman, Alex, (2016), “Reflections on the natural rate of interest, its measurement, monetary policy and the zero lower bound”, VoxEu, 15 October
- Shen, Dennis, (2016), “Central banks are facing a crisis of confidence – it’s time to reinvent global monetary policy”, LSE Europpblog, 6 October