Ethical culture and central banking

The chapter examines whether central banks need to be mindful of their ethical culture. It concludes that they do need to be mindful of ethical culture and face significant adverse consequences if they reach a different conclusion. After establishing the factual predicate that central bank officials do occasionally engage in misconduct, it turns to the related topic of central banks and legitimacy, and offers the view that the objective of legitimacy and the related need for public trust makes it especially important for central banks to pay careful attention to misconduct risk. The chapter identifies some of the techniques that central banks use to mitigate misconduct risk, and the principal measures that may be employed to accomplish this objective.