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The Role of Central Banks in Financial Stability: How has it changed?

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  • Buiter, Willem

Abstract

The roles of central banks in the advanced economies have expanded and multiplied since the beginning of the crisis. The conventional monetary policy roles - setting interest rates in the pursuit of macroeconomic stability and acting as lender of last resort and market maker of last resort to provide funding liquidity and market liquidity to illiquid but insolvent counterparties - have both been transformed. With official policy rates near or at the effective lower bound, the size of the central bank's balance sheet and the composition of its assets and liabilities have become the new, 'poor man's', monetary policy instruments. The LLR and MMLR roles have expanded to include solvency support for SIFIs and, in the euro area, the provision of liquidity support and solvency support for sovereigns also. Concentrating too many financial stability responsibilities, including macro-prudential and micro-prudential regulation, in the central bank risks undermining the independence of the central bank where it is likely to be useful -- the conventional monetary policy roles. The non-inflationary loss-absorption capacity (NILAC) of the leading central banks is vast. For the ECB/Eurosystem we estimate it at no less than EUR3.2 trillion, for the Fed at over $7 trillion. This is tax payers' money that is not under the effective control of the fiscal authorities. The central banks have used their balance sheets and their NILACs to engage in quasi-fiscal actions that have been essential to prevent even greater financial turmoil and possible disaster, but that also have important distributional impacts between sectors, financial institutions, individuals and nations. The ECB was forced into this illegitimate role by the fiscal vacuum at the heart of the euro area; the Fed by the fiscal paralysis of the US Federal government institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Buiter, Willem, 2012. "The Role of Central Banks in Financial Stability: How has it changed?," CEPR Discussion Papers 8780, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8780
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    Cited by:

    1. Emmanuel Carré & Jézabel Couppey-Soubeyran & Dominique Plihon & Marc Pourroy, 2013. "Central Banking after the Crisis: Brave New World or Back to the Future?," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 13073, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    2. Ulrich Volz, 2015. "On the Future of Inflation Targeting in East Asia," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 638-652, August.
    3. David Cobham, 2012. "The past, present, and future of central banking," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 28(4), pages 729-749, WINTER.
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    5. Riccardo De Bonis & Matteo Piazza, 2021. "A silent revolution. How central bank statistics have changed in the last 25 years," PSL Quarterly Review, Economia civile, vol. 74(299), pages 347-371.
    6. Stracca, Livio, 2014. "Financial imbalances and household welfare: Empirical evidence from the EU," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 11(C), pages 82-91.
    7. Elliott Ash & Sharun Mukand & Dani Rodrik, 2021. "Economic Interests, Worldviews and Identities: Theory and Evidence on Ideational Politics," CESifo Working Paper Series 9501, CESifo.
    8. Sharun Mukand & Dani Rodrik, 2018. "The Political Economy of Ideas: On Ideas Versus Interests in Policymaking," NBER Working Papers 24467, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Matteo Barigozzi & Antonio M. Conti, 2018. "On the Stability of Euro Area Money Demand and Its Implications for Monetary Policy," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 80(4), pages 755-787, August.
    10. Thiemann, Matthias & Birk, Marius, 2015. "The regulation of repo markets: Incorporating public interest through a stronger role of civil society," SAFE White Paper Series 25, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    11. Emmanuel Carré & Jézabel Couppey-Soubeyran & Dominique Plihon & Marc Pourroy, 2013. "Central Banking after the Crisis: Brave New World or Back to the Future? Replies to a questionnaire sent to central bankers and economists," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00881344, HAL.
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    13. Mukand, Sharun W. & Rodrik, Dani, 2018. "The Political Economy of Ideas," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1163, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    14. Buiter, Willem & Rahbari, Ebrahim, 2013. "Why do governments default, and why don't they default more often?," CEPR Discussion Papers 9492, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Steven Ambler, 2016. "Toward the Next Renewal of the Inflation-Control Agreement: Questions Facing the Bank of Canada," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 453, July.
    16. Adina APÃTÃCHIOAE, 2013. "CENTRAL BANKS AND FINANCIAL STABILITY - Literature review," SEA - Practical Application of Science, Romanian Foundation for Business Intelligence, Editorial Department, issue 1, pages 245-254, June.
    17. Bank for International Settlements, 2014. "Market-making and proprietary trading: industry trends, drivers and policy implications," CGFS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 52, december.
    18. Sheila Dow, 2014. "The Relationship Between Central Banks And Governments: What Are Central Banks For?," Department Discussion Papers 1401, Department of Economics, University of Victoria.
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    21. Larissa Batrancea & Marcel Ciprian Pop & Malar Maran Rathnaswamy & Ioan Batrancea & Mircea-Iosif Rus, 2021. "An Empirical Investigation on the Transition Process toward a Green Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-12, November.
    22. Bengtsson, Elias, 2020. "Macroprudential policy in the EU: A political economy perspective," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    23. Stan du Plessis & Malan Rietveld, 2013. "Should inflation targeting be abandoned in favour of nominal income targeting?," Working Papers 12/2013, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    24. Stan du Plessis, 2012. "Assets matter: New and old views of monetary policy," Working Papers 16/2012, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Accountability; Central banks; Financial stability; Non-inflationary loss absorption capacity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E41 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Demand for Money
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies
    • E63 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Comparative or Joint Analysis of Fiscal and Monetary Policy; Stabilization; Treasury Policy
    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • H63 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt

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