Central bank independence (CBI) has often been presented as a superior institutional arrangement demonstrated by economists in the 1980s for achieving a common good in a non-partisan manner. In this article, we argue that this view must be challenged. First, research in the history of economic facts and thought shows that the idea of CBI is not new, and was adopted under peculiar socio-historical conditions, in response to particular interests. Rather than an indisputable progress in economic science, CBI is the foundation for a particular configuration of the monetary regime, perishable like its predecessors. Secondly, we argue that the simplistic case imagined by the CBI theory (the setting of a single interest rate disconnected from political pressures) is long overdue. For nearly two decades, central banks have been increasing their footprint on the economy, embarking on large asset purchase programs and adopting macroprudential policies. This pro-activism forces independent central banks to
constantly address new distributional – and therefore political – issues, leading to a growing number of criticisms of their actions with regard to inequality or climate change. This growing gap between theory and practices makes plausible a further shift of the institutional arrangement towards a democratization of monetary policy.
Séminaire en présence d'Adam George (SOAS, University of London). Adam George présente un modèle macroéconomique SFC environnemental britannique intégrant émissions de CO2 et investissements verts de tous les agents économiques. Le modèle trimestriel analyse l'impact des politiques énergétiques selon le rapport capital vert/capital conventionnel. Quatre scénarios fiscaux verts sont testés (2022-2035) : taxe carbone, investissement...
Le laboratoire GAEL (Grenoble Applied Economics Laboratory) et la Chaire Energie et Prospérité organisent un workshop sur l’économie de la bioénergie les jeudi 9 et vendredi 10 octobre 2025 sur le campus universitaire de Grenoble.