[新聞] 後金融危機時代看央行獨立性

FT Analysis and comments：

The aims of central bank independence

The concept of independent central banking goes back at least as far as the founding of the US Federal Reserve in 1913. It came into its own after the collapse in the early 1970s of the Bretton Woods semi-fixed exchange rate system – set up by the leading economies in 1944 – and the US decision to abandon dollar convertibility – the system whereby holders of dollars had been able to redeem them from the government in exchange for gold.

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相關文章 1 ：

Monetary policy: Back under control 

December 10, 2012 8:00 pm    By John Plender  

It is possible, then, that Mr Abe’s tilt at the BoJ is the start of a global retreat from independent central banking.

“As they are given more responsibility they may end up with less independence,” Stephen Cecchetti of the Bank for International Settlements told a joint report by Omfif, a monetary think-tank, and Ernst & Young, the consultancy.
Of particular concern are the potential fiscal consequences of asset purchases, which can lead to central banks taking on credit, market and currency risk, thus putting taxpayers at risk. Such derogations from normal central bank prudence pose a threat to solvency. In the case of the BoJ, which is very thinly capitalised, it would take a fall of just 2.5 per cent in the value of its Y107tn ($1.3tn) holdings of Japanese government securities to wipe out all its capital and reserves, reducing it to technical insolvency.

Whether or not this matters is moot. Central banks cannot go bankrupt because they can always print their way back to solvency. Yet resorting to the printing press (or its electronic equivalents) to rebuild capital might undermine their anti-inflation credentials with markets.
The likelihood is, then, that central banks would be forced to turn to governments to plead for fresh capital, providing politicians with a powerful lever to reassert control.
Pressure has certainly been mounting for more political control. In the US there have been moves since 2008 to improve Fed transparency and ac­countability. The bank has come under fire, notably from Republican congressman and former presidential candidate Ron Paul, who has railed against “the staggering amount of money creation that has taken place in recent years”. Hence his call this year for the Fed’s monetary policy to be audited. Mitt Romney, Barack Obama’s rival for the presidency, also criticised the Fed’s latest round of bond-buying, known as quantitative easing, and said he wanted Fed chairman Ben Bernanke to be replaced. Since Mr Obama’s victory, the political heat is off. The Fed is expected to continue monetary easing policies when it meets on Wednesday.
Even in the eurozone, some think the ECB has too readily yielded to pressure to support peripheral countries. As one eurozone central banker puts it, the ECB has been “taken hostage” by the European Commission and the governments. 

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相關文章 2

November 25, 2012 6:07 pm         By Claire Jones, Economics Reporter

Downturn erodes central bank independence

Most of the world’s central banks have in recent decades been granted power to set monetary policy as they see fit, rather than bend to the demands of politicians to lower interest rates before elections.
But the downturn has weakened their operational independence as it has left them filling in for governments unable, or unwilling, to prevent an economic slowdown, a report, due to be published on Tuesday, has said.
“Today, in many countries, [central bank heads] are as well known as the government leaders they serve, and their words and deeds are the subject of heated debate in newspapers, bars and taxicabs,” said the report, co-authored by Ernst & Young, a consultancy, and OMFIF, a forum for central bankers and the private sector.
“From acting largely behind the scenes, central banks have now entered the political arena in a very public manner. Whether as principals, agents or advisers, it is unimaginable that there would no longer be a strong political dimension to the activities of central banks.”