Οι κεντρικές τράπεζες ανήκουν στις δημοκρατίες

Αντιγράφω επιστολή αναγνώστη στην Φαϊνάνσιαλ Τάιμς της 13 Ιανουαρίου 2023 με τίτλο “Don’t let central banks shun the climate crisis”. Είναι άραγε η αντιμετώπιση της κλιματικής αλλαγής καθήκον και των κεντρικών τραπεζών; Οι θιασώτες μιας τέτοιας άποψης έχουν ισχυρό επιχείρημα – μα όχι και αναμφίλεκτο, ας συμπληρώσω.

“Jay Powell’s reported words (‘Fed will not become a climate policymaker, says chair Powell’, Report, January 11) that an ‘enthusiasm for doing good’ should not distract central banks from their core statutory purpose captures the contradiction behind the idea of their independence.

As Stefan Eich eloquently describes in The Currency of Politics reviewed by Felix Martin (Books, Life & Arts, August 6), the decision to make monetary policy ‘independent’ is very much a political one. Powell’s framing of the most significant existential crisis facing humanity as a ‘social issue’ is most certainly a political perspective, and while he acknowledges it is for governments to set climate policy, surely one of the most important of those policies is to ensure the central bank’s independent actions accelerate efforts to tackle that crisis.

Despite this and other protestations to the contrary, just as many politicians, including the UK prime minister Rishi Sunak, are bankers. It is also the case that central bankers are politicians.

The enormity of what faces us may cause our leaders to feel like modern Canutes, but the reality is that action can and needs to be taken by all state actors if we are to arrest the worst effects of climate change on our world and our civilisation.”

Bruce Davis

Founder and Joint Managing Director Abundance Investment, London W10, UK

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