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Output Legitimacy and the Global Financial Crisis: Perceptions Matter

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  • ERIK JONES

Abstract

The global economic crisis has sapped support for the euro and lowered trust in the European Central Bank (ECB). In doing so, it has also exposed a weakness in the ‘output‐oriented legitimation’ of Europe's economic and monetary union. The common monetary policy and single currency have to be perceived as working if they are to maintain popular acceptance. Whether they actually work is less important than this perception. This raises the prospect that no matter how successful the ECB is in responding to moments of crisis, public opinion may begin to reflect the perception that it has failed. Indeed, the greater the uncertainty experienced during the crisis, the more likely it is that such negative perceptions will predominate. Worse, there is very little that the ECB can do to change popular perceptions or to create new channels for input‐oriented legitimation without jeopardizing the credibility of its commitment to price stability or its reputation for political independence.

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  • Erik Jones, 2009. "Output Legitimacy and the Global Financial Crisis: Perceptions Matter," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5), pages 1085-1105, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:47:y:2009:i:5:p:1085-1105
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-5965.2009.02036.x
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    5. Gros, Daniel & Roth, Felix, 2011. "Do Germans support the euro?," CEPS Papers 6515, Centre for European Policy Studies.
    6. Felix Roth & Lars Jonung & Felicitas Nowak-Lehmann D., 2022. "Crisis and Public Support for the Euro, 1990–2014," Contributions to Economics, in: Public Support for the Euro, chapter 0, pages 55-91, Springer.
    7. Dermot Hodson & Lucia Quaglia, 2009. "European Perspectives on the Global Financial Crisis: Introduction," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5), pages 939-953, November.
    8. Nedelchev, Miroslav, 2015. "Coordination of banking regulation in the EU," MPRA Paper 66073, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2015.
    9. Roth, Felix & Jonung, Lars & Nowak-Lehmann D., Felicitas, 2012. "Public Support for the Single European Currency, the Euro, 1990 to 2011. Does the Financial Crisis Matter?," Working Papers 2012:20, Lund University, Department of Economics.
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    12. Thomas Otter, 2013. "Crisis and Trust in National and European Union Institutions — Panel Evidence for the EU, 1999 to 2012," EUI-RSCAS Working Papers 31, European University Institute (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (RSCAS).
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    14. Fontan, Clément & Goutsmedt, Aurélien, 2023. "The ECB and the inflation monsters: strategic framing and the responsibility imperative (1998-2023)," SocArXiv 92r54, Center for Open Science.
    15. Massoc, Elsa C., 2022. "Climate change versus price stability: How "green" central bankers and members of the European parliament became pragmatic (yet precarious) bedfellows," LawFin Working Paper Series 33, Goethe University, Center for Advanced Studies on the Foundations of Law and Finance (LawFin).
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    18. Felix Roth & Lars Jonung & Felicitas Nowak-Lehmann D., 2022. "The Enduring Popularity of the Euro throughout the Crisis," Contributions to Economics, in: Public Support for the Euro, chapter 0, pages 169-185, Springer.
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