The Failure of the Guardians: Central Banking Reform and the Financial Crisis

Abstract

There was a "quiet revolution" in central banking during the era of liberalization, which led to the delegation of power to a class of technocrat-guardians who were carefully buffered from direct political control. The credibility of this new central banking regime has been damaged by its failure to anticipate the financial crisis and the quickness with which the technocrats' views about the appropriate role of central banks was abandoned during the crisis itself. Central banking is only one of several areas in which the financial crisis has raised doubts about reforms that empowered technocrats and imposed disciplines on democratic institutions.

Keywords: central banks, democracy, financial crisis, public service reform