Skip to main content

More independent central banks take on greater risk – ECB paper

Low rates, tighter fiscal policy and good growth accompanied by higher risk-taking on balance sheets

Balance sheets

Central banks with higher degrees of independence take on more risk in their monetary policy operations, new research from the European Central Bank finds.

The paper, released on July 28, looks at asset purchase programmes from the 1990s until the mid-2010s. The authors – Bernhard Bartels, Barry Eichengreen, Julian Schumacher and Beatrice Weder di Mauro – find that central banks took on increasing levels of risk over the period.

Using a value-at-risk framework, they find that the average risk

Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.

To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@centralbanking.com or view our subscription options here: subscriptions.centralbanking.com/subscribe

You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@centralbanking.com to find out more.

Sorry, our subscription options are not loading right now

Please try again later. Get in touch with our customer services team if this issue persists.

New to Central Banking? View our subscription options

Register for Central Banking

All fields are mandatory unless otherwise highlighted

Show password
Hide password

Most read articles loading...

You need to sign in to use this feature. If you don’t have a Central Banking account, please register for a trial.

Sign in
You are currently on corporate access.

To use this feature you will need an individual account. If you have one already please sign in.

Sign in.

Alternatively you can request an individual account

.