Central bank independence and the mandate - evolving
views
Remarks prepared for the international high-level symposium in honour of Stefan
Ingves
10.01.2023 | Stockholm | Claudia Buch
1. (New) challenges for central bank independence
2. Central bank independence requires strong institutional frameworks
3 Independence requires good communication of central banks
4. Summing Up
5. References
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a privilege and honour for me to speak here today on the occasion of the farewell of
Stefan Ingves and to participate in this distinguished panel. Governor Ingves was one of my
first points of contact when I joined the European Systemic Risk Board (
ESRB (Europäische Ausschuss für Systemrisiken)) more than a decade ago. He has been a
leading figure in the ESRB (Europäische Ausschuss für Systemrisiken) from the beginning and
thus, one can argue, he is one of the founding fathers of macroprudential policy coordination
in Europe. Over the years, I have learned a lot from him: the relevance of financial stability for
the conduct of monetary policy, the need to act in a timely manner as necessary, and the
importance of clear communication.
All this is more important than ever at the current juncture, and I would like to make the
following points today:
1. During the past decade, central banks have enjoyed a "capital of inattention" [2] when it
comes to their core mandates. With inflation being low and a stable financial system, the
public could pay limited attention to price and financial stability - and entrust technocrats in
central banks with the details of the actual conduct of these policies.
2. Current macroeconomic developments challenge price and financial stability. Inflation is one
of the main concerns of the public. Concern about higher prices - notably energy prices - is
likely to remain elevated even if and when inflation rates recede. Moreover, vulnerabilities in
the financial system have been building up over the past decade. All this moves central
banks into the spotlight of public policy discussions.
3. Explaining the role of central bank independence and - more importantly - to act
accordingly will become both, more difficult and more important. In an environment with
high levels of debt and high inflation, tensions between fiscal and monetary policy can
surface. Moreover, central banks have assumed a broader range of responsibilities over the
past decade. Central banks have mandates to both ensure price stability and contribute to
financial stability. While, in the longer term, all policy areas benefit from financial stability
and stable prices, conflicts of interest can surface.
4. Central bank independence is protected by institutional safeguards. In Europe, primary law
assigns a strong role to central bank independence, central bank governors have terms of
office which are decoupled from the regular electoral cycles, and central banks enjoy a high
degree of operational independence. In addition, complementary institutional frameworks
and clear rules are needed that delineate the role of monetary, fiscal, and macroprudential
policies. Absent such frameworks, monetary policy can come under fiscal or financial
dominance.
5. Transparency, accountability, and communication are equally important to sustain public
support of independence. This can be a balancing act: On the one hand, transparency
requires a structured policy cycle. Evaluation frameworks are needed to link policy objectives
to policy instruments and to analyse the intended and unintended consequences of policy
choices. Such evaluation frameworks are of a rather technical nature and tuned to an expert
audience. On the other hand, the general public needs to be convinced that the central
bank acts in the public's best interest and that non-elected technocrats protect the public
good "stability". Translation from the language spoken by technocrats to the language
spoken by the general public is an art rather than a science. This translation and a
continuous dialogue with the public are crucially needed though - in particular in times of
structural change and a high degree of uncertainty about the future.
1. (New) challenges for central bank independence
[3] With inflation rates running up to 10% in the euro area, the core mandate of central banks
- price stability - is a key policy issue today. [4] According to a Eurobarometer poll conducted in
the fall of 2022, 42% of respondents in Europe mention rising prices and (high) costs of living
as the most important issues facing the EU (European Union). [5] This number has increased by
8 percentage points since the summer. Other main risks such as energy supply (29%) and the
international situation (20%) rank second and third.
The macroeconomic situation has indeed changed quite radically, which has implications for
the perception of central banks. Over much of the past decades, as inflation was low, central
bank independence has hardly been at the centre of public policy debates. There has been
"rational inattention" with regard to inflation and the core mandates of central banks.
Central bank independence mitigates direct political intervention into their policy objectives.
Independence refers to the "how to" achieve its policy objectives: A central bank is free to
make decisions about the tools it employs, subject to legal constraints that are set out in its
charter. [6] The central bank's objectives - the "what to" achieve - are determined by the
government, while the central bank may enjoy discretion with respect to the clarification of its
objectives. [7]
Central bank independence reduces the time inconsistency problem of monetary policy as well
as the risk of fiscal and financial dominance. A policy is time inconsistent if an action, optimally
planned today for tomorrow, is not optimal anymore when tomorrow arrives. [8] If a central
bank has announced a low inflation rate, it may be tempted to depart from this
announcement. Surprise inflation could generate a positive output effect - but at the risk of
losing credibility. Additionally, if fiscal policy is weak, there can be the temptation to keep
interest rates low for longer in order to generate seignorage revenues.
Similarly, policy decisions related to financial stability require independence. As vulnerabilities in
the financial system build up during good times, macroprudential authorities should act early
on in a preventive manner. Sufficient capital buffers need to be generated that can absorb
losses in times of crisis. However, authorities may act too late or too little if they fear negative -
short-term - implications for credit growth or bank profitability. In the medium- to longer-term,
insufficient buffers in the financial system can threaten fiscal stability by forcing the public
sector to intervene and absorb losses in times of crisis. This inaction bias can be remedied by
assigning the task to safeguard financial stability to an independent authority.
What are current challenges? And could central bank independence be at risk? I see three main
reasons why central bank independence may move into the focus of public policy discussions:
[9]
First, inflation is expected to remain comparatively high over the next couple of years. The past
decade has witnessed relatively low and stable inflation across advanced economies (Graph 1).
Yet, more recently, demand and supply shocks have pushed inflation well above central banks'
targets (Reis 2022b). According to the most recent projections by the
ECB (European Central Bank), inflation will return to target only by the year 2025. [10] And
even if actual inflation rates decline, perceived inflation - notably in terms of higher energy
prices - will remain at an elevated level. Some structural features of the global economy, which
have kept inflation low over the past decade, may reverse and contribute to higher inflationary
pressure in the future (Goodhart and Pradhan 2020).
Graph 1: Consumer prices in advanced economies
Second, vulnerabilities in the financial system and risks to financial stability have increased.
According to the ECB (European Central Bank)'s financial stability report and a warning issued
by the ESRB (Europäische Ausschuss für Systemrisiken), financial stability conditions in Europe
have deteriorated. [11] Our assessment of the situation in Germany is quite similar. [12] After a
long period of low interest rates, low corporate insolvencies and accordingly low credit risk,
the Bundesbank has particularly warned that future macroeconomic risks may be
underestimated. Should risks to financial stability materialize, the causes and the role of central
banks in maintaining financial stability would move into the limelight.
Third, high levels of debt can lead to conflicts between price and financial stability. Debt has
increased, in many countries and across sectors (Graph 2). Historically, high leverage has
created stress in the financial system and put pressure on central banks to monetize debt
(Reinhard and Rogoff 2009). At the current juncture, higher interest rates are needed to fight
inflation and to anchor inflationary expectations. But higher market interest rates may also
threaten debt sustainability and financial stability, in particular if such higher rates materialize
abruptly. Absent sufficient buffers in the financial system to absorb losses, central banks might
fight inflation less vigorously than needed if they fear adverse consequences for financial
stability (Brunnermeier 2016, Reis 2022a). Monetary policy may come under fiscal or financial
dominance.
Graph 2: Public and private sector debt
Over a longer time horizon, conflicts of interest between monetary policy and financial stability
are less acute. If central banks act sufficiently early to address risks to inflation, this also limits
risks to financial stability. If, however, central banks keep interest rates too low for too long,
risks to financial stability build up over time. Market participants would continue to search for
yield, and banks' risk models would continue to underestimate risks. Financial institutions may
- implicitly - even engage in risk taking collectively if they anticipate such monetary rescues
(Farhi and Tirole 2009, 2012).
The global financial crisis has shown an unclear division of labour between monetary and fiscal
authorities can potentially put the credibility and independence of central banks at risk. As
buffers in the private financial sector against adverse shocks turned out to be insufficient when
the crisis struck in 2007/2008, eyes turned to central banks as providers of liquidity in times of
stress. Yet, central banks lacked clear-cut guidelines and operating principles for their
lenderof-last-resort and market-maker-of-last-resort activities (Tucker 2018). Also, it quickly became
evident that authorities were not just dealing with liquidity issues but with solvency problems
of financial institutions. Lacking adequate resolution frameworks and sufficient loss absorbing
capacity in the financial sector, fiscal funds were used to rescue financial institutions.
When the crisis struck, drawing a clear line between monetary and fiscal policy was often
difficult given the lack of clear institutional frameworks. Eventually, central banks engaged in
quasi-fiscal operations by lending to distressed, illiquid financial institutions threatened by
insolvency (Buiter 2014, Tucker 2018). Risks on central banks' balance sheets increased. Hence,
the ability of central banks to pursue price stability can be under threat if fiscal authorities are
unwilling or unable to bear risks and if the central bank steps in. It has thus been argued that
the central bank in its function as a lender- and market-maker-of-last-resort needs a fiscal
backstop (Buiter 2014, Sims, 1999, 2001, Tucker 2018).
Since the global financial crisis, the regulatory framework has been significantly changed.
Capital requirements have been enhanced in order to increase resilience of banks, resolution
frameworks have been institutionalized, loss-absorption capacity has been increased, and
supervision has been strengthened. [13] All this is very welcome - but it also requires a
constant process of monitoring the progress that has been made, the extent to which risks
have moved to other parts of the financial system, and the willingness to act and apply the
new tools as needed.
2. Central bank independence requires strong institutional frameworks
At the current juncture, risks to price and financial stability are heightened, and conflicts of
interest can arise unless adequate institutional frameworks are in place. The key institutional
anchor of central banks, their independence, is not at the centre of current policy discussions.
This suggests that the public has a high level of confidence in the ability of central banks to
perform up to their tasks.
In Germany, this trust has been supported over decades by a broad societal consensus about
the institutional role of the Bundesbank. This consensus has been codified legally. The
Bundesbank Act [14] , Section 3, stipulates that "It shall participate in the performance of the
ESCB's tasks with the primary objective of maintaining price stability, shall hold and manage
the foreign reserves of the Federal Republic of Germany, shall arrange for the execution of
domestic and cross-border payments and shall contribute to the stability of payment and
clearing systems."
In performing these tasks, the Bundesbank acts independently (Section 12): "In exercising the
powers conferred on it by this Act, the Deutsche Bundesbank shall be independent of and not
subject to instructions from the Federal Government. As far as is possible without prejudice to
its tasks as part of the European System of Central Banks, it shall support the general economic
policy of the Federal Government."
These principles of the Bundesbank's independence have hardly been questioned ever since
the passage of the original legislation in 1957. Prior to independence being laid down in
European Union primary law, changing the Bundesbank Act would have been feasible with
only a simple majority in the German parliament. Yet, the Bundesbank's independence has
never been seriously contested by political actors. Substantial changes to the Bundesbank Act
that have been made over time were related to major events such as German reunification [15]
and the introduction of the Euro [16] . None of them touched upon Bundesbank's
independence. It is interesting to note though that the societal consensus for independence
has formed over time, reflecting experience with spouts of hyperinflation and observed actions
of the central bank after World War II. [17]
This broad societal consensus in favour of central bank independence has also carried over to
the European level. [18] Trust of the population has been justified by the low-inflation policies
since the foundation of the ECB (European Central Bank): Inflation has been lower than during
the preceding decades, in particular during the turbulent 1970s (Graph 1 and Reis 2022b). A
number of arrangements protect the ECB (European Central Bank)'s independence: separate
budgets, sufficiently long terms of office, no reappointment of members of the Executive
Board, prohibition of monetary financing, functional independence, and the ECB's right to
adopt binding regulations necessary for carrying out its tasks. This protection of the ECB's
independence is rather strong as changing the treaty would require unanimity (Goodhart and
Pradhan 2020).
In combining a clear mandate with operational independence, society has tied its preferences
to the central bank's objectives. This provides democratic legitimization for central banks to
impose costs on society in the pursuit of its mandate without considering fiscal consequences
(Tucker 2018).
After the global financial crisis, the powers and activities of central banks have broadened,
including explicit roles in contributing to financial stability. This raises a number of questions:
How to balance the new roles, mandates and potential conflicts of interest? How do financial
stability, macro-and microprudential objectives and price stability interact? How to avoid the
risk of political interference if central banks contribute to macroprudential policies that have
distributional consequences? [19]
Answers to these questions need to acknowledge differences between monetary policy and
financial stability policies:
First, the time horizon differs. The objective of price stability is defined over the medium-term.
Financial stability policies aim at mitigating the build-up of vulnerabilities over the financial
cycle, which is longer than the typical business cycle. [20]
Second, the policy objective differs. In its recent strategy review, the
ECB (European Central Bank)'s governing council has defined price stability as an inflation rate
of 2%. [21] Defining and quantifying financial stability in a similar way is hardly feasible.
Financial stability is about the functioning of the financial system, even in times of stress,
without adverse impacts for the real economy (Hellwig 1998) or threatening sustainable
economic growth (Allen 2022: 7).
Third, policy instruments differ. Policy rates are the key monetary policy tool, and this tool is
firmly in the hands of central banks. There are, in contrast, a number of regulatory policies or
fiscal policy instruments that - directly or indirectly - impact the stability of the financial
system. Accordingly, financial stability is typically a responsibility shared by supervisory, fiscal
authorities, and central banks. [22]
"Independence" in the context of micro- and macroprudential supervision thus differs from
independence in terms of monetary policy decision-making. Micro- and macroprudential
supervision is coordinated with other authorities. There is no full independence from the
political process and, indeed, there should not be, as macroprudential policy decisions can
have distributional consequences.
3 Independence requires good communication of central banks
In addition to strong institutions, credibly maintaining central bank independence requires a
high degree of accountability and transparency, and clear communication. This communication
needs to include the limitations of what can be achieved, as has been stressed by Cukierman et
al. (1992: 353): "Institutions cannot absolutely prevent an undesirable outcome, nor ensure a
desirable one, but the way that they allocate decision-making authority within the public
sector makes some policy outcomes more likely and others less likely." Twenty years later, Reis
(2022b: 5) puts it like this: "..., central bankers followed clear principles - like the Taylor rule of
gradualism - that made their actions rule-like in allowing the private sector to understand
where policy was heading and why."
Generally, one key innovation in central bank policy-making over the past decades has been
the increase in accountability and transparency. Alan Blinder (2004) calls the increase in
accountability and transparency the "Quiet Revolution", noting that "whereas central bankers
once believed in secrecy and even mystery, greater openness is now considered a virtue."
Communication has two types of addressees and objectives however. Technical and market
experts are the first group targeted by central bank communication. Communicating with this
group uses a specialized language, and it can refer to structured policy frameworks. The
broader public as the second group does not think in terms of such policy frameworks.
Reaching this audience requires a good narrative, translating formal language into more
intuitive language in order to ensure broad societal support for an independent central bank.
Communication at an expert-level can follow a structured policy cycle with four interlinked
steps. [23] Starting from a broad policy objective, intermediate objectives need to be specified,
and appropriate indicators need to be chosen. The decision on whether and how to activate
policy measures should be based on a structured process of ex-ante policy evaluation. An ex-
ante evaluation provides information about the relative performance of different instruments in
contributing to the policy objective. Trade-offs between policy objectives can be taken into
account when calibrating instruments. In a fourth step, the effects of the instruments need to
be assessed in an ex-post evaluation. This provides information about the effectiveness of the
measure(s) taken, about intended or unintended side effects, and it also serves as an input into
a possible recalibration of policy instruments.
Following such a policy cycle requires a good infrastructure. The Financial Stability Board (
FSB (Financial Stability Board)) developed a framework to evaluate regulatory reforms that
were implemented following the global financial crisis (FSB (Financial Stability Board) 2017).
This framework emphasizes the importance of distinguishing the social costs and benefits of
the reforms, and weighing the relevance of these requires a societal discussion. Ideally,
evaluations need to be carried out by independent experts, and they require a good underlying
data infrastructure.
But quantitative policy modelling reaches its limits in times of structural change. The formal
models that are used to analyze the macroeconomy and to evaluate policies have features that
fail to capture turning points and to address radical uncertainties. [24] Dynamics on financial
markets and business cycle fluctuations are shaped by public narratives which do not easily
lend themselves to quantitative macroeconomic modelling. [25] These shortcomings are
particularly relevant at the current juncture as policy priorities are re-defined and as resilience
has become more important. [26] Hence, central banks need to reach out beyond their
traditional audiences and expert communities to gather and synthesize information that is
relevant for decision-making. [27]
Communication with the broader public, which needs to provide sustained support for central
bank independence, requires additional elements. The recent ECB (European Central Bank)
strategy review has thus established a much broader range of tools: [28] visualized approaches,
simplified language in the communication of monetary policy decisions, listening events, and a
permanent citizen dialogues. In order to explain why financial stability is important, the
Bundesbank has developed a video explaining why financial stability is not "boring". [29]
4. Summing Up
Central bank independence is indispensable for stability-oriented monetary and financial
stability policies. At the current juncture, independence may come under threat as risks to price
and financial stability have increased. Legal frameworks that protect central bank
independence are thus all the more important. Fiscal rules and macroprudential policy
frameworks are important complements that mitigate the risk of fiscal and financial
dominance.
But legal frameworks are not sufficient. Independence also requires a high degree of
accountability and transparency. It requires structured policy evaluations based on central
banks' mandates, and good public communication. Independence allows central banks to act
on behalf of the general public - but it does not isolate central banks from the public
discourse.
Good communication of central banks can be a balancing act. On the one hand, policy
evaluation of a rather technical nature is needed to ensure accountability and transparency. On
the other hand, good and coherent narratives are essential to explain policy objectives and
policy action to the broader public. This requires a constant process of translation of different
languages. This translation cannot rely on an established dictionary. Videos,
barrier-freelanguage, listening events and policy panels are all part of the tools that we should use to
assist that translation. We also need to invest more time and effort into engaging with
students of economics, finance, and other social sciences.
Good communication is particularly important in the field of financial stability. Macroprudential
policy aims at building up resilience and is of a preventive nature. It needs to act prior to the
build-up of vulnerabilities and risks to financial stability. Therefore, it is hard to observe its
effectiveness: if the financial system continues to function well, this could be due to good luck
or good policy. The outcome would be observationally equivalent.
Building trust in the ability of authorities to address risks to financial stability takes time.
Financial sector reforms of the past decade have made the financial system more resilient.
Whether risks have been pushed to other, less regulated parts of the financial system, and how
the global financial system will weather the next storm, requires heightened attention.
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Footnotes:
1. I would like to thank Sandra Eickmeier, Christof Freimuth, and Phillip König for most
helpful comments and inputs to an earlier draft. All remaining errors and inconsistencies
are my own.
2. I borrow this term from Reis (2022b: 14) who argues that, after two decades of low
inflation, the public did not pay much attention to central banks, trusting that inflation
would remain low also in the future.
3. Part of the following discussion draws on a speech given in September 2021 on central
bank independence, see Buch (2021a).
4. Seehttps://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?
title=Inflation_in_the_euro_area
5. See European Commission (2022: 8).
6. Generally, de jure independence of central banks has increased over time (Cukierman et al.
1992, Romelli 2022). Reis (2022b) identifies three elements of an institutional framework
contributing to price stability: (i) independence from the Ministry of Finance, (ii) narrow
mandates, transparency, and measurable performance, and (iii) interest rates as the main
policy tool.
7. For example, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has an explicit quantitative objective of a
2% inflation rate. In the Eurosystem there is some leeway in terms of interpreting the
qualitative goal of "maintaining price stability" quantitatively.
8. See Kydland and Prescott (1977), Calvo (1978), or Barro and Gordon (1983).
9. The role of central banks in addressing climate change is an additional discussion which
challenges the traditional role of central banks and their relation to fiscal policy. See Buch
and Weigert (2021) for a discussion.
10. See https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2022/html/ecb.mp221215~f3461d7b6e.en.html
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2022/html/ecb.mp221215~f3461d7b6e.en.html.
11. See ECB (European Central Bank) (2022) and
ESRB (Europäische Ausschuss für Systemrisiken) (2022).
12