This paper investigates the effects of government bond purchases by the European CentralBank (ECB) on the degree of fiscal policy accommodation (DFPA) communicated in its pressconferences. I use a text mining approach to quantify the DFPA of the ECB and a proxyFactor-Augmented VAR to assess the...

The ECB has accepted increasing amounts of rubbish collateral since the crisis started leading to exposure to serious private sector credit risk (i.e. default risk) on its collateralised lending and reverse operations ("repo"). This has led some commentators to argue that the ECB needs "fiscal...

Central bank independence is a common feature in advanced economies. Delegation of monetary policy to an independent central bank with a clear mandate for price stability has proven to be successful in keeping a check on inflation and providing a trusted currency. However, it is also a fact that...

This paper shows that the inability to use monetary policy for macroeconomic stabilization leaves a government more vulnerable to a rollover crisis. We study a sovereign default model with self-fulfilling rollover crises, foreign currency debt, and nominal rigidities. When the government lacks...

This book examines the linkage between central bank structure, central bank autonomy-with respect to setting its monetary policy goals, choosing its policy mechanisms, legal independence, and financial independence-and monetary policy, both in select benchmark countries and at a broader...