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Should central banking be made more democratic?
By Enda Curran
Bloomberg News
Friday, January 31, 2025
The 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath vaulted central bankers from obscure technocrats to leading actors in the global economy.
Institutions that had been known for a behind-the-scenes role mostly tweaking interest rates took on the mantle of Marvel-style first responders.
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Policymakers such as Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi became household names, popping up on primetime television slots or taking center stage at major conferences. Mark Carney, former head of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England has launched a bid to replace Justin Trudeau as head of the Liberal Party of Canada. The current Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, has even taken to TikTok to explain policy.
That's quite a journey for institutions that as recently as the turn of the century were reluctant to issue press releases. But the newfound fame hasn’t come without controversy.
In the U.S., President Donald Trump has consistently criticized the Fed. He has said he should be allowed to influence Fed policy, then walked that back, claiming he merely has a right to say what he thinks interest rates should be. In his Davos address, he said he would "demand that interest rates drop immediately," adding that "they should be dropping all over the world."
Trump's critics in turn have compared his approach to that of Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has repeatedly intervened in the nation's central bank. But it's not just the political right that hopes to exert influence over central bankers.
Around the world, criticism emanates from across the political spectrum. Critics on the left contend that monetary policy has propelled inequality by fueling massive gains in financial markets and house prices for the benefit of those who already own assets -- and at the expense of those who don't.
Now, political theorists are getting in on the game, including the academic Leah Downey, whose recent book, "Our Money: Monetary Policy As If Democracy Matters," questions the merits of central bank independence. For Downey, the question is "how the creation of money and monetary policy can be more democratic." ...
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