Ideology and Monetary Policy: The Role of Political Parties’ Stances in the ECB's Parliamentary Hearings

72 Pages Posted: 15 Mar 2022

See all articles by Nicolò Fraccaroli

Nicolò Fraccaroli

Brown University - Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs

Alessandro Giovannini

European Central Bank (ECB) - Directorate General International and European Relations

Jean-Francois Jamet

European Central Bank (ECB)

Eric Persson

European Central Bank (ECB)

Date Written: March, 2022

Abstract

We investigate whether ideology drives the sentiments of parliamentarians when they speak to the central bank they hold accountable. To this end, we collect textual data on the quarterly hearings of the ECB President before the European Parliament from 1999 to 2019. We apply sentiment analysis to more than 1,900 speeches of individual Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from 128 parties. We find robust evidence that MEPs’ sentiments toward the ECB are correlated with the ideological stance predominantly on a pro-/anti-European dimension rather than on a left-right dimension.

Keywords: Central Bank Accountability, Central Bank Independence, Party Ideology, Sentiment Analysis

JEL Classification: E02, E52, E58

Suggested Citation

Fraccaroli, Nicolò and Giovannini, Alessandro and Jamet, Jean-Francois and Persson, Eric, Ideology and Monetary Policy: The Role of Political Parties’ Stances in the ECB's Parliamentary Hearings (March, 2022). ECB Working Paper No. 2022/2655, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4057810 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4057810

Nicolò Fraccaroli (Contact Author)

Brown University - Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs ( email )

111 Thayer Street
Box 1970
Providence, RI 02912-1970
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://watson.brown.edu/rhodes/people/nicol-fraccaroli

Alessandro Giovannini

European Central Bank (ECB) - Directorate General International and European Relations ( email )

Kaiserstrasse 29
D-60311 Frankfurt am Main
Germany

Jean-Francois Jamet

European Central Bank (ECB) ( email )

Sonnemannstrasse 22
Frankfurt am Main, 60314
Germany

Eric Persson

European Central Bank (ECB) ( email )

Sonnemannstrasse 22
Frankfurt am Main, 60314
Germany

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