Technocrats in Turmoil : The Fed, the ECB, and the Changing Politics of Money

Technocrats in Turmoil shows how central bankers allied with conservative forces to fight inflation in the 1980s, and disassociated from these forces after 2008. Nicolas Jabko thus explains the waxing and the waning of technocratic neoliberalism in terms of changing alliances between central bankers, economists, and politicians.

As the economy became more financialized, the politics of money considerably changed after the late 1970s. American and European central bankers first allied with conservative forces to fight inflation in the 1980s; then, that alliance unravelled after the 2008 financial crisis. Many observers gloss over this change because they see central bankers either as stewards of financialization, or as economists dedicated to economic stability. Nicolas Jabko shows how changing alliances between central bankers, economists, and politicians led to momentous shifts in monetary regimes. He argues that central bankers are technocrats who navigate and powerfully shape three overlapping arenas – their own internal monetary policy committees; the economics profession; and the broader public arena. Steeped in a machine-assisted analysis of central bank archives, Technocrats in Turmoil thus reveals the key role that the Fed and the ECB played in the waxing and waning of technocratic neoliberalism.