From Menace to Mundane
Moral Hazard and the Politics of the European Central Bank's Government Bond Purchases
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7837079 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michele Chang (0000-0002-8275-8119, College of Europe Bruges, corresponding author), David Howarth (0000-0003-2697-165X, University of Luxembourg Esch‐sur‐Alzette), Laura Pierret (0000-0003-2001-6221, University of Luxembourg Esch‐sur‐Alzette) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 63 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 267-283 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | JCMS Journal of Common Market Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-9886 • E-ISSN: 1468-5965 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/jcms.13614 |
| OpenAlex | W4395046379 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 20 |
During the Eurozone's sovereign debt crisis, the ideational consensus that shaped the foundation of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was destabilized by disagreement on unconventional monetary policies (UMPs), specifically government bond purchases. In the ECB's 2021 strategy review, however, UMPs were confirmed as standard elements of the European Central Bank's (ECB) toolbox. What happened? One argument frequently presented to question the legitimacy of UMPs is that they undermine the prior objective of the EMU of avoiding moral hazard. We analyse the politics of UMPs by focusing upon how top officials in four major Eurozone central banks have discursively constructed the relationship between the ECB's purchase of sovereign debt and moral hazard. We find that top central bank officials aligned to a large degree on the non‐necessary causal relationship between government bond purchases and moral hazard, which reinforced its legitimacy and eventual acceptance as ‘conventional
Bond · Central bank · Economics · Government (linguistics · Incentive · Market economy · Monetary economics · Monetary policy · Moral hazard · Political economy · Political science · Politics · European Monetary and Fiscal Policies · Finance · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Global Financial Crisis and Policies · Law · Philosophy
Uncertainty and the Welfare Economics of Medical Care
The Road To Maastricht
States, Debt, and Power
The Political Economy of Monetary Solidarity
The Political Economy of European Banking Union
Moral Hazard and Observability
The European Central Bank and the German Constitutional Court
What “Brussels” means by structural reforms
Running an enlarged euro-zone – reforming the European Central Bank
Ideas and Elites. The Social Construction of Economic and Monetary Union
Fuzzy knowledge
The ECB and the Stability Pact
The role of the Delors Committee in the creation of EMU
Between power and purpose
Introduction
Conclusion
Torn between Two Lovers
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |