time-variant index of central bank independence with government ideology. The results show that leftist governments have … somewhat lower short-term nominal interest rates than rightwing governments when central bank independence is low. In contrast …, short-term nominal interest rates are higher under leftist governments when central bank independence is high. The effect is …

After the dramatic rescue package for the euro area, the governing council of the European Central Bank decided to … sterilise its bond purchases - compensating those purchases through sales of other bonds or money market instruments to keep the … overall money supply unaffected. This is to counter accusations that the ECB is monetizing government debt. This note …