Culture matters: French–German conflicts on European central bank independence and crisis resolution

Eelke De Jong, Femke Van Esch

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The European sovereign debt crisis has highlighted a fault line between German and French politicians and board members of the ECB. In this chapter we argue that this fault line is rooted in cultural differences between Germany and France. This position is based on previous research on the relation between central bank independence and national culture and the construction of cognitive maps of a French (Jean-Claude Trichet) and German (Axel Weber) member of the ECB’s board. Consequently, although a European wide agreement on the ECB’s independence has been reached, national cultural differences still play an important role in board members’ preferences and the ECB policy. As such, this chapter provides another illustration of how the cultural turn in economics helps to understand financial affairs. Moreover, it develops a new methodological approach to operationalize dimensions of culture in the process.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationFinancial Cultures and Crisis Dynamics
PublisherTaylor & Francis
Pages253-277
Number of pages25
ISBN (Electronic)9781317681533
ISBN (Print)9781138776043
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2014

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