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How do the media scrutinise central banking? Evidence from the Bank of England

Christel Koop and Michele Scotto di Vettimo

European Journal of Political Economy, 2023, vol. 77, issue C

Abstract: Central bank independence has raised questions of accountability ever since its global diffusion in the 1990s, and especially since the financial crisis. Yet, whilst the literature on central banks’ legislative oversight has expanded, the role of the media as account holders has been left largely unexplored. We assess media scrutiny by using an original dataset of news articles about the Bank of England published between 1997 and 2020, and by analysing the relationship between central banking outcomes and scrutiny in the form of evaluative and negative coverage of the Bank. We find that the variation in such coverage can be traced back to policy outcomes, but the association is largely confined to the post-crisis period. The findings support a view of the media as instrumental in central bank oversight, but also show the limits of this form of accountability.

Keywords: Central banking; Accountability; Media scrutiny; Performance; Automated text analysis; Bank of England (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E50 E52 E58 E59 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:poleco:v:77:y:2023:i:c:s0176268022000933

DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2022.102296

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European Journal of Political Economy is currently edited by J. De Haan, A. L. Hillman and H. W. Ursprung

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