Central banking, Finance and Power

In this part of the wonderful Crash Course series on monetary policy, central banks and ideology, Benjamin Braun widens the view on central banks and how they operate within financial markets and makes the topic accessible for non-experts.

Instead of taking the common perspective on central banks as independent public entities that govern financial markets and "print" money, they are analysed as special actors within the financial system that act through their infrastructure and are enabled as well as limited through it. Braun suggests that central banks have an interest in deeper and more liquid financial markets to strengthen their influence, yet thereby increase the states' dependency on the goodwill of the markets: "A catch 22"

This issue has relevance for a range of topics but is especially severe in case of the struggle against climate change. With central banking's current incentive structures it is unlikely that they will work progressively towards a state-led solution but favor a strong role of private finance.

Comment from our editors:

This webinar with Benjamin Braun is just one of many in this Crash Course series on monetary policy, central banks and ideology. It offers a broad range of introductory webinars to the topic that are highly recommended because of their long Q&A's that work well to simplify the matter and reduce the hurdles for introducing discussions on financial topics into public discourse.

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