Political voice on monetary policy: Evidence from the parliamentary hearings of the European Central Bank

Climate Change Versus Price Stability: How ‘Green’ Central Bankers and Members of the European Parliament Became Pragmatic (Yet Precarious) Bedfellows

“…In the same year, just over 25% of the written questions pertained to price stability and more than 50% of the interventions pertained to this topic in the resolution debates. In coherence with Ferrara et al (2020), Figure 1 confirms that MEPs also attempted to keep the ECB accountable on a broader set of issues distinct from the ECB's primary goal (Ferrara et al 2021). Until early 2020, virtually only left-wing MEPs were making interventions concerned with the climate topic 6 .…”

“…The statements and answers of the ECB in this setting have also been scrutinized (Collignon and Diessner 2016;Fraccaroli et al 2018Fraccaroli et al , 2020Fraccaroli et al , and 2021Ferrara et al 2021). However, how the MEPs themselves have used this forum has remained largely overlooked by the literature (but see Ferrara et al 2021).…”

“…However, the act of politicians holding the ECB accountable can also be seen as a more active, politically charged practice where MEPs direct their questions and interventions strategically in order to shape the engagement of the ECB regarding different topics according to their own political preferences. Yet, the politicians' side of the accountability relationship between the ECB and the EP has been largely overlooked in the literature (nevertheless see Collignon and Diessner 2016;Ferrara et al 2021). This paper seeks to answer the following question: did the EP play a role in shaping the attitude of the ECB regarding its role in the fight against climate change, and if so what was it?…”

“…Most existing studies have focused on the monetary dialogues(Ferrara et al 2021;Chang and Hodson 2019;Fraccaroli et al 2022) and other accountability forums have been overlooked.Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4140925…”

Ideology and Monetary Policy: The Role of Political Parties’ Stances in the ECB's Parliamentary Hearings

“…Sanders et al (2018) explore the differences between various types of hearings in the UK, including those of the Bank of England, and between hearings in the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Ferrara et al (2021) find that MEPs tend to lower their focus on price stability in their interactions with the ECB following higher rates of unemployment. Fraccaroli et al (2020) provide a comparative perspective, as they use text analysis to track the topics and sentiments in the hearings of the Bank of England, the ECB and the Federal Reserve.…”