IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jecomi/v11y2023i4p109-d1115095.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Central Bank Independence: Where Do We Stand?

Author

Listed:
  • Osvald Vasicek

    (Department of Economics and Economic Policy, PRIGO University, 736 01 Havirov, Czech Republic)

  • Natalie Uhrova

    (Department of Social Sciences, PRIGO University, 736 01 Havirov, Czech Republic)

  • Lenka Dimitriou Janickova

    (Department of Economics and Economic Policy, PRIGO University, 736 01 Havirov, Czech Republic)

  • Tomas Wroblowsky

    (Department of Economics and Economic Policy, PRIGO University, 736 01 Havirov, Czech Republic)

  • Boris Navratil

    (Department of Economics and Economic Policy, PRIGO University, 736 01 Havirov, Czech Republic)

Abstract

Central bank independence (CBI) has long been considered a key aspect of effective monetary policy, as it allows central banks to make decisions free from political interference. However, the global financial crisis of 2007–2008 and recent events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and armed conflict in Ukraine have threatened CBI. This article aims to examine the impact of these events on CBI in OECD member countries, both on a de jure and de facto level, using a variety of indicators. The results suggest that CBI has largely remained unchanged in most countries, but there is disturbing evidence of political interference in CBI in the Republic of Türkiye.

Suggested Citation

  • Osvald Vasicek & Natalie Uhrova & Lenka Dimitriou Janickova & Tomas Wroblowsky & Boris Navratil, 2023. "Central Bank Independence: Where Do We Stand?," Economies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-15, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:11:y:2023:i:4:p:109-:d:1115095
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/11/4/109/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/11/4/109/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carola Conces Binder, 2021. "Political Pressure on Central Banks," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 53(4), pages 715-744, June.
    2. repec:ces:ifodic:v:15:y:2017:i:1:p:19307482 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Abel Mawuko Agoba & Joshua Yindenaba Abor & Kofi Achampong Osei & Jarjisu Sa-Aadu, 2020. "The Independence of Central Banks, Political Institutional Quality and Financial Sector Development in Africa," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 19(2), pages 154-188, August.
    4. Masciandaro, Donato & Romelli, Davide, 2015. "Ups and downs of central bank independence from the Great Inflation to the Great Recession: theory, institutions and empirics," Financial History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(3), pages 259-289, December.
    5. Alan Blinder & Michael Ehrmann & Jakob de Haan & David-Jan Jansen, 2017. "Necessity as the mother of invention: monetary policy after the crisis," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 32(92), pages 707-755.
    6. Alin Marius Andries & Anca Maria Podpiera & Nicu Sprincean, 2022. "Central Bank Independence and Systemic Risk," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 18(1), pages 81-130, March.
    7. Aklin,Michael & Kern,Andreas & Negre,Mario, 2021. "Does Central Bank Independence Increase Inequality?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9522, The World Bank.
    8. Berggren, Niclas & Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov & Hellström, Jörgen, 2016. "Does social trust speed up reforms? The case of central-bank independence," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(2), pages 395-415, June.
    9. Cukierman, Alex & Webb, Steven B & Neyapti, Bilin, 1992. "Measuring the Independence of Central Banks and Its Effect on Policy Outcomes," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 6(3), pages 353-398, September.
    10. Kwabi, Frank O. & Boateng, Agyenim & Du, Min, 2020. "Impact of central bank independence and transparency on international equity portfolio allocation: A cross-country analysis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    11. Ana Carolina Garriga, 2016. "Central Bank Independence in the World: A New Data Set," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(5), pages 849-868, October.
    12. Reinsberg, Bernhard & Kern, Andreas & Rau-Göhring, Matthias, 2021. "The political economy of IMF conditionality and central bank independence," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    13. Strong, Christine Olivia, 2021. "Political influence, central bank independence and inflation in Africa: A comparative analysis," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    14. Braun, Benjamin, 2021. "Central banking beyond inflation," SocArXiv 3skmx, Center for Open Science.
    15. Jamus Jerome Lim, 2021. "The limits of central bank independence for inflation performance," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 186(3), pages 309-335, March.
    16. Charles Goodhart & Rosa Lastra, 2018. "Populism and Central Bank Independence," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 49-68, February.
    17. Kern, Andreas & Reinsberg, Bernhard & Rau-Göhring, Matthias, 2019. "IMF conditionality and central bank independence," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 212-229.
    18. Eijffinger, S. & De Hann, J., 1995. "The Political Economy of Central Bank Independence," Papers 9587, Tilburg - Center for Economic Research.
    19. Mr. Bernard J Laurens & Mr. Marco Arnone & Jean-François Segalotto, 2006. "The Measurement of Central Bank Autonomy: Survey of Models, Indicators, and Empirical Evidence," IMF Working Papers 2006/227, International Monetary Fund.
    20. Alan Blinder & Michael Ehrmann & Jakob de Haan & David-Jan Jansen, 2017. "Monetary Policy after the Crisis," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 15(1), pages 12-13, 04.
    21. Garriga, Ana Carolina & Rodriguez, Cesar M., 2020. "More effective than we thought: Central bank independence and inflation in developing countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 87-105.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Masciandaro, Donato, 2022. "Independence, conservatism, and beyond: Monetary policy, central bank governance and central banker preferences (1981–2021)," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    2. D. Masciandaro, 2019. "What Bird Is That? Central Banking And Monetary Policy In The Last Forty Years," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 19127, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    3. Garriga, Ana Carolina & Rodriguez, Cesar M., 2023. "Central bank independence and inflation volatility in developing countries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 1320-1341.
    4. Donato Masciandaro & Davide Romelli, 2018. "Beyond the Central Bank Independence Veil: New Evidence," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 1871, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    5. Justin Svec & Daniel L. Tortorice, 2022. "Asserting Independence: Optimal Monetary Policy When the Central Bank and Political Authority Disagree," Working Papers 2201, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
    6. Donato Masciandaro & Davide Romelli, 2018. "To Be or not to Be a Euro Country? The Behavioural Political Economics of Currency Unions," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 1883, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    7. Carola Conces Binder, 2021. "Political Pressure on Central Banks," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 53(4), pages 715-744, June.
    8. Davide Romelli, 2022. "The political economy of reforms in Central Bank design: evidence from a new dataset," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 37(112), pages 641-688.
    9. José Manuel González-Páramo, 2024. "In Defense of Central Bank Independence against its Enthusiasts," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 250(3), pages 109-128, September.
    10. Itai Agur & Carola Binder & Cristina Bodea & Claudio Borio & Italo Colantone & Ana Carolina Garriga & Federico Favaretto & Stefan Gerlach & Ernest Gnan & Ryszard Kokoszczynski & Masaaki Higashijima & , 2020. "Populism, Economic Policies and Central Banking," SUERF Studies, SUERF - The European Money and Finance Forum, number 2020/1 edited by Ernest Gnan and Donato Masciandaro, May.
    11. Reinsberg, Bernhard & Kern, Andreas & Rau-Göhring, Matthias, 2021. "The political economy of IMF conditionality and central bank independence," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    12. Donato Masciandaro, 2021. "Central Bank Governance in Monetary Policy Economics (1981-2020)," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 21153, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    13. Jamus Jerome Lim, 2021. "The limits of central bank independence for inflation performance," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 186(3), pages 309-335, March.
    14. repec:zbw:bofitp:2020_013 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Alin Marius Andries & Anca Maria Podpiera & Nicu Sprincean, 2022. "Central Bank Independence and Systemic Risk," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 18(1), pages 81-130, March.
    16. Yin, Hua-Tang & Chang, Chun-Ping & Anugrah, Donni Fajar & Gunadi, Iman, 2023. "Gender equality and central bank independence," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 661-672.
    17. Philipp Baumann & Enzo Rossi & Michael Schomaker, 2022. "Estimating the effect of central bank independence on inflation using longitudinal targeted maximum likelihood estimation," IFC Bulletins chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Machine learning in central banking, volume 57, Bank for International Settlements.
    18. Rieder, Kilian, 2022. "Monetary policy decision-making by committee: Why, when and how it can work," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    19. Oriola, Hugo, 2023. "Political monetary cycles: An empirical study," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    20. Donato Masciandaro & Davide Romelli, 2019. "Behavioral Monetary Policymaking: Economics, Political Economy and Psychology," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Behavioral Finance The Coming of Age, chapter 9, pages 285-329, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    21. Jakob Haan & Christina Bodea & Raymond Hicks & Sylvester C. W. Eijffinger, 2018. "Central Bank Independence Before and After the Crisis," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 60(2), pages 183-202, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:11:y:2023:i:4:p:109-:d:1115095. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.