Central Banks and Democracy. A Comparative Case Study
Central Banks and Democracy. A Comparative Case Study

Summary/Abstract: The financial crisis has highlighted the role and the position of central banks in terms of responsibility and actions. The aim of this paper is to determine the level of democracy of four central banks (the Federal Reserve (the FED), the European Central Bank (the ECB), the National Bank of Romania (the NBR) and the Bank of Japan (the BOJ)). Structured in three parts, the paper focuses on the existing literature in order to define central bank democracy; establishes the link between central bank independence and democracy and finally, the analysis includes the construction and interpretation of a democracy index for each central bank. To conclude, we appreciate that the European Central Bank is the most democratic, but pure democracy is an ideal concept.

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