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The subject matter of analysis in this paper is the cohesion policy in the discourse of the Law of the European Central Bank (ECB), which will be reviewed for the purpose of establishing changes in the values and principles of cohesion policy which significantly redefined the postulates of the contemporary EU monetary legislation in the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. In that regard, the paper aims to analytically examine the characteristics and qualitative influence of the tendency to “humanize” the contemporary monetary legislation, as well as the sophisticated modus operandi of shaping the monetary authority by public law in the architecture of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). By applying the dogmatic, axiological, and comparative law method, the author identifies the greatest dilemmas encountered by the European legislator in the context of adjusting the ECB regulatory activity and its primary tasks to the principles of cohesion policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In its 2021 strategy review, the European Central Bank's Governing Council unanimously decided to make climate change one of its priorities for the coming years. In this article, we try to understand how this change was achieved. To do so, we rely on mixed methods, studying ECB policies, speeches, exchanges with the European Parliament, and conducting semi-structured interviews. We present a detailed account of the rapid changes within the ECB regarding the climate challenge, and attempt to unpack its conditions of possibility. We show that climate integration results from the combination and hybridisation of internal dynamics and external pressures. On the one hand, the renewal of the Executive Board and modifications in organisational dynamics secured a growing coalition for a change. On the other, pressures from politicians, NGOs, academics and citizens pushed the institution to develop its expertise and provided willing insiders with further argumentative resources to push their green agenda. While these two intertwined dynamics have allowed 'green doves' to forge a consensus around the climate action plan, disagreements remain within the Governing Council on the scope and shape of future greening efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amidst climate change, central banks’ roles have broadened, encompassing new responsibilities beyond tradition through widening interventions. This expansion offers institutional prospects yet could entail reputational risks in reconciling long-standing and evolving responsibilities. Despite widening interventions’ reputational risks, a comprehensive understanding of how these shape banks’ behaviour – preserving existing reputations, fostering new ones, or achieving a compatible integration of both – is lacking. To obtain a better understanding of these dynamics, we draw on bureaucratic reputation theory to examine the climate engagement of the European Central Bank (ECB). Utilising a three-fold frame analysis, we examine the ECB’s communication about its greening agenda, complemented by interview data from stakeholders. Our analysis indicates that the reputation management strategy of the ECB, amidst widening interventions, encompasses the simultaneous presence of three frames – prudence, promotion, and strategic ambiguity. Leveraging the three frames, the ECB engages in reputational pragmatism to navigate diverse audience expectations, conflicting priorities, and mitigate potential reputational risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is the European Central Bank (ECB) increasingly acting on political – rather than technocratic – considerations? This question is of a central concern to students of European Union (EU) political economy. This article contributes to this debate by studying the ECB's credit lines to the central banks of EU member states outside the Euro Area during the Global Financial Crisis and the COVID-19 crisis. Both times the ECB accorded selectively better borrowing conditions to some central banks. The article finds that its selection of who gets favourable borrowing terms has indeed become more political. In 2008, the ECB decided the credit terms based on technocratic criteria, but twelve years later, it granted better lending conditions to countries that were close to adopting the euro. How the ECB balances its mandate for price stability in the Euro Area and its role as a supranational EU institution decides whether it will become more politicised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a major economic crisis worldwide. The monetary policy response of the European Central Bank (ECB) was fast and massive. The ECB also intervened on the supervisory side because, after the establishment of Banking Union, the ECB was given responsibility for banking supervision in the euro area through the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM). This paper explains the response of the ECB-SSM to the COVID-19 related economic crisis during 2020 and 2021, up until February 2022. These ECB actions include the reduction of bank capital buffers, the redefinition of non-performing loans, and the limitations on dividends and bonuses paid by banks. We adopt a neofunctionalist approach, which suggests that policies are developed at the EU level in response to need, whereby supranational actors and spillovers are particularly important. We offer some concluding insights into whether the ECB-SSM's responses have led to a further deepening of integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy agendas are a well-studied institutional level phenomenon that capture the set of policy issues that an institution pays attention to over time. They are emergent in nature in that individual behaviour shapes institutional level outcomes when policy makers allocate attention to policy issues. To examine the link between individual-level actions and system-level outcomes we introduce the concept of the agenda-setting constellation, defined as a group of policy makers paying attention to a set of policy issues. Taking the European Central Bank as a case study, and using a combination of text-analysis and networks-analysis techniques, we demonstrate how these meso-level structures shape the evolving policy agenda. We then examine the roles of personal experience, institutional constraints, and policy context in driving agenda-setter constellation membership. Our results show the value of studying policy agendas as networked processes and the key role that agenda-setter constellations play in driving policy agenda dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article evaluates the role of the ECB in response to COVID19. The article assess this response in light of the separation of economic and monetary policy. It concludes that the ECB has responded in a more conservative manner during the COVID19 crisis. The ECB did however confirm its willingness to respond to an economic crisis. The ECB has confirmed this willingness by generating a framework of different policy options. This article then concludes that whilst these policies deviate from a very conservative central bank, they are not perse illegal. There is however some indication that the ECB is deviating from its capital key and thereby violating important rules. This violation may erode some of its legitimacy. This article further briefly assesses whether these changes should be considered permanent. Based upon the structure of policies that the ECB is creating these measures indicate permanence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does culture have a causal effect on institutional trust? We answer this question by assessing the non-economic determinants of public trust in the European Central Bank. To analyse institutional trust, we employ a novel dataset of citizen perceptions and knowledge about the European Central Bank. Cultural traits are measured by indicators of social trust at the level of Euro area sub-national regions. We show that individuals living in regions with lower social trust systematically exhibit less trust in the European Central Bank. An instrumental variable approach based on historical variables of education and political institutions supports a causal interpretation of our findings. These results are robust across different model specifications and measures of trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article shows how the European Central Bank (ECB) reduced the risk of politicization and de facto de‐delegation despite experiencing contestation. During the euro area crisis and the coronavirus emergency the ECB's monetary policy measures have been widely praised for their effectiveness. Even though the ECB is an independent trustee that cannot be easily sanctioned, it needs to engage with its principals to receive their political backing for common projects and in order to reaffirm its own centrality in governance. This article identifies different trustee strategies to reduce politicization and thereby to decrease the risk of de facto de‐delegation: (i) dualism, (ii) voluntary self‐restraint, and (iii) changing the yard stick. It concludes by showing that the ECB has expanded its monetary policy toolbox without triggering neither formal nor de facto de‐delegation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parliamentary hearings are a fundamental tool to hold independent central banks accountable. However, it is not clear what type of information central banks provide when they communicate with parliaments. In this article, we compare the communication of the European Central Bank (ECB) in parliamentary hearings to its communication in the press conferences. Using text analysis on the ECB President's introductory statements in parliamentary hearings and press conferences from 1998 to 2021, we show that the ECB uses hearings to discuss topics that are less covered in press conferences. We also find that the ECB's policy stance in the hearings tend to reflect the stance in press conferences, and that the degree of language complexity is similar in the two fora. These findings suggest that the ECB mainly uses parliamentary hearings to further explain policy decisions first presented at press conferences but also to put them in a broader context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monetary policies are not usually considered as part of the repertoire of 'state capitalism'. However, unconventional monetary operations performed by central banks in recent years make this exclusion increasingly problematic. This paper thus explores whether recent central bank interventions should be considered manifestations of 'new' state capitalism. Analysis focuses on the actions of three central banks from the advanced capitalist core in the West – the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England. By mobilising the 'financial chains' perspective, this paper highlights the fact that, under financialisation, contemporary central banks have assumed a pivotal role in shaping Western capitalism and its uneven geographies. Through these recent unconventional interventions, central banks have in effect become 'creators' or 'generators' of (financial) capital. As such, their role in shaping uneven economic geographies across space (well beyond their official territorial boundaries) has expanded. Spatial ramifications of central banks' capital-generating operations could thus fit easily within the framework of 'uneven and combined state capitalism'. The possibility of considering the unconventional operations of central banks as state capitalist could also go hand in hand with a modified definition of state capitalism. Indeed, the rubric of state capitalism could potentially be enlarged to include configurations of capitalism where the state plays a particularly strong role not only as promoter, supervisor and owner of capital but also as a 'generator' of capital. This capital-generating role appears to be essential for the survival of contemporary capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Central Bank (ECB) has entered the preparation phase for the potential issuance of a digital euro. The digital euro under consideration represents a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC), a digital representation of central bank money that is intended for use by the general public. This article foregrounds the digital euro as an infrastructure that furthers European security ambitions. It argues that the development of the digital euro is a materialization of European (in)security rationales that aim to secure pan-European financial transactions amid growing geopolitical tensions. It focuses on the development of the technology and analyses how central bankers' scenarios of the future manifest in the anticipated design and prototypes. While the provision of a financial infrastructure is the most decisive security-related implication of the digital euro, the introduction of a new form of public money is the decisive financial feature with potentially wide-ranging implications for banks. Although the ECB seeks to balance the interests of banks and other financial actors in the development of the digital euro, its plans are still met with criticism. Finally, the article argues that the ECB exerts itself more explicitly than before as a geopolitical actor in its own regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying monetary authority response to macroeconomic imbalances using the interest rate as a proxy variable for monetary policy became ineffective after the financial crisis, when central banks exhausted the effective capacity of interest rates by reaching the zero lower bound (ZLB). In an effort to analyse the unconventional response deployed by central banks, we present and estimate a modified reaction function that uses money supply as the operational instrument of monetary policy for the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, and we verify its utility as an explanatory instrument for the behaviour of the two monetary authorities. By applying our strategy, it is feasible to identify both monetary policy reaction with regard to the economic situation as well as other possible monetary authority concerns regarding governments' fiscal behaviour and the evolution of asset markets, regardless of the monetary policy applied at any given time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Central Bank's (ECB) role as a political actor during the euro crisis raised concerns about its independence and insufficient accountability. Against this backdrop, the article investigates how and why the ECB reacted to demands for more accountability during and following the crisis. To this end, we revisit the independence-accountability nexus, adding three qualifications to the conventional wisdom that independence and accountability do not go together. First, recurring to the governor's dilemma, we argue that a delegation relationship characterized by a high level of independence favours competence over controllability. Second, we open the black box of accountability by investigating the extent to which the ECB made the strategic choice to improve selected accountability dimensions. Third, against the commonsensical view that ECB accountability mechanisms are underdeveloped, this piece shows that certain accountability dimensions have been continuously improved to defend independence. The findings contribute to the literature on accountability and the causes and consequences of delegating power to supranational institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monetary financing – the issuance of public money to support public expenditure – remains a widespread policy taboo. In this article, we analyze the operational practices of the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank (ECB) from the 20th onwards to argue that monetary finance should be understood as a conventional and legitimate part of central banks' core functions. We argue that monetary financing serves a crucial macro-financial role in the face of large fluctuations in the demand for and supply of government debt, where the central bank acts to stabilize sovereign debt markets. We show that monetary financing has been a stable and pervasive feature of the Bank of England's and the Federal Reserve's operations. Turning to the ECB, we show that by the mid-2000s the view came to dominate the institution that the central bank should allow markets to punish governments for excessive deficits. This view informed the ECB's catastrophic reluctance to act on the 2008 and 2009 Financial Crisis deficits. By 2020 that attitude had once again largely been abandoned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central banks and finance ministries have been faced with growing calls for better monetary-fiscal coordination in recent years as the solution to an array of macroeconomic policy problems, promoted by an ever-wider range of stakeholders. Yet, how can the silver-bullet solution of coordination be expected to play out across very different political-economic contexts? This paper sheds light on this question by introducing a novel typology of monetary-fiscal coordination that can help us make sense of formal and informal coordination efforts in the post-2008 era. It zooms in on a peculiar but key aspect which monetary and fiscal authorities have sought to achieve coordination on: The fiscal backing of central banks' balance sheets to insure monetary policy against losses and 'insolvency'. To understand central bankers' aversion towards loss-making despite their ability to create currency, the paper develops a political economy account which emphasizes policy-makers' interpretations of their own independence and their desire for fiscal protection, in contrast to traditional accounts of delegation that treat independent agents as discretion-seekers and power-maximizers. The typology is illustrated with case studies of the European Central Bank, Bank of England, and Bank of Japan between 2008 and 2023, each representing a different type of monetary-fiscal coordination post-crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent resurgence of inflation in Europe has led the ECB to increase interest rates and phase out asset purchase programmes designed to address the effects of the Great Financial Crisis. This article investigates how the ECB has adjusted its logic of responsibility throughout this series of crises. Using a topic model and in-depth analysis of speeches, we examine the ECB's strategic framing of linkages related to inflation during three historical periods: the Central Bank Independence (CBI) era (1998–2011), the secular stagnation era (2011–2021), and the new inflation era (2021-). Our findings indicate that modifications made to the CBI's linkages during the secular stagnation era shaped the ECB's framing of the new inflation era in a novel way. However, despite acknowledging difficult policy tradeoffs, which they used to downplay in the past, ECB policymakers have continued to reframe its initial imperative of responsibility in the hope of avoiding policy discussions on regime change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the role of central bank interventions in credit and financial markets in support of decarbonization. Drawing on the critical macrofinance literature, we argue that central banks are constrained in greening financial flows by their continued adherence to monetary dominance – prioritizing short-term price stability – and the structural demands of global market-based finance. This has led to a narrow focus on 'market-fixing' and 'de-risking' policy interventions, implicitly outsourcing the green transition to private finance whilst asserting that central banks cannot be seen as 'climate policymakers'. Moving beyond the constraints of this macrofinancial regime remains challenging, as we illustrate with the European Central Bank's (ECB) tilting of its corporate asset purchase program. We explore the lessons from the Post-World War II credit guidance regimes employed in many countries and consider how these could be updated to meet the challenges posed by market-based finance. Such a shift would require an evolution in the role of the central bank as a public agency, challenging current norms around independence and market neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we provide a comparative case study analysis of the differentiated climate change engagement of the Bank of England (BoE), European Central Bank (ECB) and Federal Reserve (Fed). Drawing on semi-structured interviews and a newly composed database of central banker speeches and legislative documents, we argue that climate (in)actions of these central banks are shaped by concerns over their reputation. A broad socio-political consensus on the need for climate change mitigation enabled the BoE and ECB to begin integrating CRFRs into their supervisory frameworks without affecting their socio-political reputation while the carbon bias in their own asset purchase programs compelled both central banks to also start greening their monetary policy to preserve their performative reputation. The Fed's more cautious moves have been driven by a fear of loss of technical reputation in the face of a growing transnational consensus on the financial stability risks of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2019, the European Central Bank has become the global frontrunner in green central banking, while the US Federal Reserve has remained a climate laggard. Based on 15 interviews and primary sources, we argue that this policy divergence demonstrates central bankers' indirect responsiveness to political developments. We showcase how political events – the Global Financial Crisis, the Paris Climate Agreement, the EU's Green Deal, and the Trump and Biden elections – spurred central bankers to either adopt a greener interpretation of their mandates or invoke their mandates to justify inaction. In the EU, adopting a greener stance became a component of central bankers' strategy to build broad support. In the US, avoiding the climate issue was necessary to stay above the political fray. Overall, the European green turn challenges the conventional view of the ECB as the archetypical responsible but unresponsive institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution argues that policymakers instrumentalise legal ambiguity to provide solutions to crises and achieve their preferences in complex governance systems. It looks at the Eurozone crisis and the introduction of sovereign debt restructuring as part of the policy solution. Despite initial opposition from the European Central Bank (ECB) and European Commission (EC), as well as negative market reactions, Greece's debt was restructured in 2012. The notion of collective action clauses (CACs)—a private contractual term in bond documentation that enables bondholder coordination—was promoted as the credible tool for enabling sovereign debt restructuring. However, this paper argues that the success of CACs is related to how it functions as a boundary object, enabling a shared space of interpretive flexibility that allows policymakers to interpret CACs in terms of their preferences, despite a lack of consensus on the permissibility of future Eurozone sovereign debt restructurings. While enabling cooperation, this interpretive flexibility leads to different iterations of CACs—the Euro-CAC and Greece's retrofit-CAC—which connects EU fiscal policy to monetary policy in a way that induces legal uncertainty as to the viability of future debt restructurings vis-à-vis the ECB's bond-buying programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Central Bank (ECB) emerged from the sovereign debt crisis as one of the most powerful supranational institutions. Against this background, this article explains how and why the ECB became empowered during the euro area crisis. Building on the delegation, governor's dilemma, and epistemic community approaches, we argue that the ECB ability to play a strong role in this empowerment process and to convince member states to entrust it with more competences was the outcome of a combination of three factors: limited cohesiveness within the collective principal (Eurogroup); a fiduciary relationship characterized by broad discretion and independence on the trustee side (ECB); and strong specialization with the ECB acting as epistemic entrepreneur. We illustrate our argument with two cases: the Trichet letters exemplify an autonomous emergency empowerment and the introduction of the single supervisory mechanism demonstrates ECB influence on institutional design decisions in negotiating processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article assesses the factors associated with member states' bargaining success during the negotiations in the European Council's 2010 task force on strengthening economic governance, the pre-decision stage for the Six-Pack. We test theories of decision-making based on the expertise of institutions, and EU member states' preferences and power resources using new data. With methods derived from the decision-making in the EU projects, we find that proximity to the European Central Bank was associated with greater bargaining success for member states and that the opposite was the case for closeness to the Commission's preferences. We find mixed evidence that member states' level of indebtedness is associated with bargaining success, defined as the minimum distance between the position of a member state and the final outcome. The findings indicate the importance of the ECB's role given its technical expertise, in defining the outcomes of the task force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Authority of the European Central Bank (the Bank) over its operational norms in the eyes of market actors – Exogenous and endogenous authority and legitimacy – The reconciliation by the Bank and the Court of Justice of the EU (the Court) of the pre-existing norm and political-economic reality with Article 123 TFEU – Sovereign lender of last resort – Eurozone Crisis – Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) – Public Sector Purchase Programme (PSPP) – Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arsenic (As) contamination is a major environmental pollutant that adversely affects plant physiological processes and can hinder nutrients and water availability. Such conditions ultimately resulted in stunted growth, low yield, and poor plant health. Using rhizobacteria and composted biochar (ECB) can effectively overcome this problem. Rhizobacteria have the potential to enhance plant growth by promoting nutrient uptake, producing growth hormones, and suppressing diseases. Composted biochar can enhance plant growth by improving aeration, water retention, and nutrient cycling. Its porous structure supports beneficial microorganisms, increasing nutrient uptake and resilience to stressors, ultimately boosting yields while sequestering carbon. Therefore, the current study was conducted to investigate the combined effect of previously isolated Bacillus faecalis (B. faecalis) and ECB as amendments on maize cultivated under different As levels (0, 300, 600 mg As/kg soil). Four treatments (control, 0.5% composted biochar (0.5ECB), B. faecalis, and 0.5ECB + B. faecalis) were applied in four replications following a completely randomized design. Results showed that the 0.5ECB + B. faecalis treatment led to a significant rise in maize plant height (~ 99%), shoot length (~ 55%), root length (~ 82%), shoot fresh (~ 87%), and shoot dry weight (~ 96%), root fresh (~ 97%), and dry weight (~ 91%) over the control under 600As stress. There was a notable increase in maize chlorophyll a (~ 99%), chlorophyll b (~ 81%), total chlorophyll (~ 94%), and shoot N, P, and K concentration compared to control under As stress, also showing the potential of 0.5ECB + B. faecalis treatment. Consequently, the findings suggest that applying 0.5ECB + B. faecalis is a strategy for alleviating As stress in maize plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The addictive use of nicotine contained in tobacco is associated with stressor‐like emotional and cognitive effects such as anxiety and working memory impairment, and the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms such as histone acetylation has recently been reported. Although the precise nature of behavioural plasticity remains unclear, both anxiogenic‐ and working memory impairment‐like effects were observed in the present experimental model of mice treated with repeated subcutaneous nicotine and/or immobilization stress, and these effects were commonly attenuated by the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors that induce histone acetylation. Such HDAC inhibitor‐induced resilience was mimicked by ligands for the endocannabinoid (ECB) system, a neurotransmitter system that is closely associated with nicotine‐induced addiction‐related behaviours: the anxiogenic‐like effects were mitigated by the cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) agonist arachidonylcyclopropylamide (ACPA), whereas the working memory impairment‐like effects were mitigated by the CB1 antagonist SR 141716A. Moreover, the effects of the HDAC inhibitors were also mimicked by ligands for the endovanilloid (transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 [TRPV1]) system, a system that shares common characteristics with the ECB system: the anxiogenic‐like effects were mitigated by the TRPV1 antagonist capsazepine, whereas the working memory impairment‐like effects were mitigated by the TRPV1 agonist olvanil. Notably, the HDAC inhibitor‐induced anxiolytic‐like effects were attenuated by SR 141716A, which were further counteracted by capsazepine, whereas the working memory improvement‐like effects were attenuated by capsazepine, which were further counteracted by SR 141716A. These results suggest the contribution of interrelated control of the ECB/TRPV1 systems and epigenetic processes such as histone acetylation to novel therapeutic approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The selection of oviposition sites by female moths is crucial in shaping their progeny performance and survival, and consequently in determining insect fitness. Selecting suitable plants that promote the performance of the progeny is referred to as the Preference−Performance hypothesis (or 'mother‐knows‐best'). While root infestation generally reduces the performance of leaf herbivores, little is known about its impact on female oviposition. We investigated whether maize root infestation by the Western corn rootworm (WCR) affects the oviposition preference and larval performance of the European corn borer (ECB). ECB females used leaf volatiles to select healthy plants over WCR‐infested plants. Undecane, a compound absent from the volatile bouquet of healthy plants, was the sole compound to be upregulated upon root infestation and acted as a repellent for first oviposition. ECB larvae yet performed better on plants infested below‐ground than on healthy plants, suggesting an example of 'bad motherhood'. The increased ECB performance on WCR‐infested plants was mirrored by an increased leaf consumption, and no changes in the plant primary or secondary metabolism were detected. Understanding plant‐mediated interactions between above‐ and below‐ground herbivores may help to predict oviposition decisions, and ultimately, to manage pest outbreaks in the field. Summary statement: The leaf herbivore Ostrinia nubilalis can detect and selectively lay eggs on maize plants infested by the root herbivore Diabrotica virgifera, resulting in a lower performance of its progeny. Undecane was the sole volatile to be induced in leaves of root infested plants and shaped the oviposition behaviour of O. nubilalis females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A disordered energy transition might impact borrowers' ability to repay and service debt; this calls for methods for integrating climate into credit risk modelling. This integration is required not only for risk management, but also for adjusting credit ratings for collateral pledged in Eurosystem monetary policy operations. This study introduces an innovative methodology to evaluate Italian non-financial firms' exposure to climate policy risks, gauging the impact of climate policies on firm-level default probability (PD). By simulating a shock to energy expenditure originating from different levels of a carbon tax, we analyze the potential impact on firms' PD. Our method offers a comprehensive understanding of the channels through which energy shocks propagate and their implications on firms' vulnerability. Our findings show that the impact of carbon taxation on credit risk would be contained, raising the average PD by a range of 0.6–4.1 basis points according to the different levels of carbon tax. The effect is slightly larger for the Agriculture and Services sector, while there is no clear pattern relating to firm size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conduction band edge (ECB) energy levels of a mesoporous TiO2 film were investigated in aprotic dimethylformamide (DMF) and aqueous media to explore the influence of various proton additives and electron donors. Spectroelectrolysis (SE) technique was employed to measure the ECB in non‐aqueous solvents, revealing a significantly negative ECB in dry non‐aqueous solvents compared to values obtained in aqueous solvents. In non‐aqueous DMF, the ECB of TiO2 was found to be highly dependent on the proton‐donating additive due to the establishment of a proton adsorption–desorption equilibrium, reaching –(1.42–1.94) V versus SCE. The introduction of a well‐known electron donor, 1,3‐dimethyl‐2‐phenyl‐1,3‐dihydrobenzimidazole (BIH) led to a slight positive shift in the TiO2ECB, indicating that the electron donor contributes to the to the CB energetics of the mesoporous TiO2 films. Under aqueous conditions and in the presence of various electron donors (TEA, TEOA, ascorbic acid, EDTA•2Na, and sodium ascorbate), the proton‐donating/accepting capacity of the additive significantly influenced the pH of the aqueous solvent, causing changes in the TiO2ECB across the electrolyte solution. This study emphasizes the crucial role of proton additives and electron donors in influencing the CB energetics of mesoporous TiO2 electrodes and aims to determine the extent to which the ECB of TiO2 can shift as a result of the adsorption and intercalation of protons on its surface. The findings obtained herein contribute to the understanding of the energy efficiency of TiO2‐mediated photocatalytic systems in various solvent environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several authors, especially those who share a Classical–Keynesian point of view, argue that the interest rate determines the rate of profit in the long run. Considering the eleven founding economies of the euro area, I find that, adjusted for the rate of growth of gross national income, there is a positive long-term relationship between the real interest rate and the net rate of profit. The results are confirmed even when I estimate a model with nominal interest rates, inflation, and a yield curve. These results imply that the European Central Bank (ECB), when deciding monetary policy, is not neutral in determining income distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 27th of July 2022, the European Central Bank (ECB) responding to emerging inflation pressures increased the interest rate of the main refinancing operation to 0.5% up from 0.0% which was the norm for the second half of the previous decade. Since then, the ECB responded to inflationary shocks by increasing interest rates nine more times till 20 September 2023, reaching 4.5%. Following these unprecedented hikes in ECB interest rates, Greek banks responded swiftly by raising their lending interest rates, whereas they kept deposit rates at very low levels with the net interest margin (NIM) being at 2.6% in the first half of 2023 compared to 1.5% in the Euro-area while in November 2023, the Greek NIM was raised further to 4.83%, which was more than twice the corresponding NIM at 2.4% of Euro Area banks. Our dynamic panel VAR analysis study examines whether the oligopolistic structure of the Greek banking industry contributes to this divergence in NIM. This high NIM has induced a staggering increase in net interest income of Greek banks by 59.9% in 2023 compared to 2022 from 2.54 mil euros to 4.07 mil euros. During the same period, Greece reported a negative saving rate at − 4%, as people resorted to their savings to cope with greedflation in consumer goods. We show that successive interest rate hikes by the ECB aimed to reduce inflation have positively contributed to the sustainability of the Greek banking industry by building up stronger capital buffers and accelerating amortization of the deferred tax credits mainly through the channel of NIM. Alas, the high cost of diverging Greek NIM from the rest of the Euro Area hurts credit expansion and fuels existing greedflation by generating its own bankflation. Our study shows that EU policymakers should accelerate the banking union in the Euro Area which would enhance competitive pressures for Greek banks and potentially reduce NIM and tackle bankflation. The regaining of Greece's investment grade gives the impetus to the convergence of Greek NIM to euro area ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The euro and the European Central Bank (ECB) are inextricably linked at the institutional level, yet public opinion diverges: support for the euro remained high even at the height of the crisis while trust in the ECB saw a steep decline. How can we explain divergences between support for the euro and trust in the ECB? The present paper seeks to complement the existing literature by developing a unified analytical framework of public support for Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and introducing a novel typology of euro and ECB sceptics and supporters. Empirical findings show that support for the euro is predominantly value-based, whereas perceived performance matters comparatively more for trust in the ECB. They suggest that value-based support has been critical during the crisis in ensuring continued public support for EMU despite perceptions of underperformance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates whether and to what extent political factors drive disagreement within the allegedly consensual monetary committee of the European Central Bank. Absent voting data, the article assesses disagreement based on the semantic distance between the policy positions publicly articulated by the European Central Bank President and the central banks of Eurozone member states. The empirical analysis shows that the disagreement articulated by national central bankers is affected by the ideological inclinations of the governments of the countries they represent. Our findings thus suggest that central bankers' position-taking is shaped not only by economic conditions but also by domestic political considerations. This result challenges the European Central Bank's projected image of itself as an institution whose members are impermeable to domestic political pressures as a way to defend the independence of the institution to which they belong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I argue the European Central Bank shows how mutually defining are i) the epistemic assumptions of independent central banking; ii) the powers of a central bank; iii) the political order in which it operates and iv) representative claims. I identify three 'representative turns' whose effects have cumulated over the history of the ECB: the first towards including representative claims in justifications for independent central banking; the second, towards a monetary dialogue between the ECB and the European Parliament; the third, towards providing the ECB with some means of discussing with parliaments how it should act in emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article unveils the policy agenda of the European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council as found in the speeches that Governing Council Members gave between 1999 and 2018. Using a dynamic topic‐modeling approached based on non‐negative matrix factorization, we demonstrate how the issues discussed by ECB Governing Council members have evolved over time, and how the general punctuation hypothesis (Jones, B. D. & Baumgartner, F. R. (2005). The politics of attention: How government prioritizes problems. University of Chicago Press) sheds light on what drives this process. We find that unlike policy outputs from many other policymaking systems, ECB communications evolve in a proportional manner. We attribute this finding to the information‐processing capacities of the bank. Our findings speak to the literatures on central bank communications, the evolution of policy agendas, and the application of topic models to speech texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article assesses the legacy of Mario Draghi as president of the European Central Bank (ECB) from 2011 to 2019, with particular reference to the Greek's sovereign debt crisis. Most macro-economic indicators improved over the course of Draghi's tenure at the ECB, including inflation, budget deficits, yield spreads among euro-area borrowers and unemployment. Draghi played a decisive role in turning the tide on the crisis of confidence that afflicted the euro area and threatened the survival of Europe's single currency in the wake of Greece's sovereign debt crisis. Yet the ECB's unconventional policies prompted sustained controversy and contributed to a low level of trust in the central bank among people in the euro-area member states. The focus of controversy has been on possible asset-price bubbles and 'hidden' transfers between euro-area member states. When and how to normalize its policies is a major challenge for the ECB, as it is for other major central banks that adapted similar policies in response to the global financial crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses role of European financial institutions in restoring economic stability in Ukraine. Topics discussed include that the war in Ukraine has effected economic conditions in Europe which has led to inflation in commodities, mentions that the European Central Bank (ECB) is responsible for making monetary-policy decisions but the war in Ukraine had made it challenging for ECB to decide on monetary policy and discussed about uncertainty and volatility in economy.

[Display omitted] • Waste € Banknotes (W€B) is a promising substrate for AD valorization. • W€B methane yield, raw and pretreated, was 297 and 334 NmL CH 4 g VS-1, respectively. • Heavy metals were not a cause of inhibition. • The physical pretreatment increases the maximum methane production rate by 22.4% • Logistic kinetic model showed less than a 5% deviation from experimental values. The European Central Bank is striving to find environmentally friendly alternative methods of waste disposal. In 2020, it decided to end the disposal of Waste Euro Banknotes (W€B) in landfills and planned to use them for recycling and/or energy recovery. Despite being recognized as an effective tool in a circular economy model, there are no reported studies on the use of W€B as a substrate in anaerobic digestion (AD). Thus, the aim of this research was to assess the viability of W€B to be converted into high-value-added energy products (mainly methane) through AD. W€B (€10 and €20 denominations) provided by the Bank of Spain were used. Biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests of pre-treated (grinded) and untreated W€B were assessed at mesophilic temperature. The ultimate methane yield was considerably higher for pre-treated W€B (334 ± 23 NmL CH 4 g VS-1 added) than for untreated W€B (297 ± 14 NmL CH 4 g VS-1 added). The Logistic or Sigmoidal kinetic model adequately fit the experimental data and allowed for obtaining the kinetic parameters of each case studied. In this sense, an increase of 22.4 % in the maximum methane production rate (R max) was observed for the pre-treated W€B (52.5 ± 0.9 mL CH 4 (g VS·d)-1 compared to the untreated W€B (16.2 ± 1.8 mL CH 4 (g VS·d)-1). According to the obtained results, AD may be a good alternative for the energetic valorization and recycling of W€B. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates the impact of unconventional policy announcements by the European Central Bank (ECB) on the interconnectedness of sovereign credit default swaps (SCDS) markets in the European Union (EU) from 2009 to 2014. The findings suggest that ECB's unconventional policy measures reduced sovereign default risk not only in Eurozone nations but also in Central and Eastern European countries. To investigate the transmission of monetary policy effects across European countries, we employ the Diebold & Yilmaz connectedness framework along with an event-study approach. Our analysis reveals robust evidence of substantial positive spillovers from ECB monetary policy measures to all EU countries, effectively shielding the SCDS market from adverse shocks. Among various policy tools, we observe that asset purchase programs enhance overall connectedness, while mixed policy measures bolster within-cluster connectedness. Furthermore, our results highlight the efficacy of specific monetary policy instruments, indicating that asset purchase programs and quantitative easing are particularly effective in reducing sovereign risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an unstable economic climate, all market participants want to know is when is the timing to overcome a recession, and what measures and means to use for economic recovery. In this regard, the process through which the Eurozone economy has gained momentum since the summer of 2022 has been a volatile one. This was reflected in a sharp rise in the price level, followed by a sharp rise in the ECB interest rates. The purpose of this paper is to provide short-term forecasts of the main parameters of monetary and fiscal policy by the euro area monetary authorities, based on a model developed by the authors. The distinctive feature of the presented and proposed model lies in the particularly careful selection of the parameter values based on actual statistical data. The statistics used for the proposed model cover the period from 2015 to December 2022. The simulation results show that the European Central Bank (ECB) needs to maintain a policy of high interest rates for a period of 12 to 14 months, which will help to bring inflation down to 2–3 percent in the future and move to a stage and phase of sustainable economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the effectiveness of the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) in mitigating the transmission of credit risk from banks to their sovereign, using CDS spreads to capture bank and sovereign credit risk for a sample of 43 banks in 8 Euro Area countries over the period 2009–2020. If the BRRD bail-in framework is credible, changes in bank default risk should not be transmitted to sovereign risk. In a novel approach we use banks earnings announcements to identify exogenous shocks to bank credit risk and investigate to what extent bank risk is transmitted to sovereign risk before and during the BRRD era. We find that bank-to-sovereign risk transmission has diminished after the introduction of the BRRD, suggesting that financial markets judge the BRRD framework as credible. The decline in bank-sovereign risk transmission is particularly significant in the periphery Euro Area countries, especially Italy and Spain, where the bank-sovereign nexus was most pronounced during the sovereign debt crisis. We report that the lower bank-to-sovereign credit risk transmission is associated with the parliamentary approval of the BRRD and not with the OMT program launched by the ECB to affect sovereign yield spreads, nor with specific bail-in or bailout cases which occurred during the BRRD era. Finally, we document that the reduction in risk transmission is most pronounced for banks classified as a Global Systemically Important Bank (G-SIB), stressing the importance of additional capital buffers imposed by Basel III. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In the Po Valley, the control of maize from insect pests (Ostrinia nubilalis and Diabrotica virgifera virgifera) can include insecticide applications. The results of research on insecticide spray's impact on beneficial insects, which can contribute to the biological control of maize pest, are reported. Aphid predators and Trichogramma brassicae (O. nubilalis egg parasitoid) were used as indicators. Chemical insecticide application significantly increased aphid abundance when no rotation protocol was applied. In addition, an alteration in aphid predator community composition was recorded. In insecticide-sprayed fields managed according to repeated crop protocols, the predator community was dominated by hoverflies, while in maize fields where crop rotation was practiced, ladybirds and Orius spp. predominated. In addition, the insecticides had a negative effect on the natural parasitism of T. brassicae. The research suggests that Integrated Pest Management strategies should be planned based on crop rotation protocols and biological control of maize pests. The European corn borer (ECB) (Ostrinia nubilalis Hübner) and to a lesser extent the western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte) are a threat to maize in the Po Valley (Northern Italy), and their control can require insecticide applications. The results of a study to evaluate the effects of insecticide sprays on the beneficial insect Trichogramma brassicae (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) and aphid predators are reported. A three-year research project was carried out in two Study Areas, in Lombardy. In area 1, crop rotation was a common practice, while in area 2 repeated maize crop was practiced. The natural trend of ECB egg masses attacked by T. brassicae was affected and parasitism rates were reduced as a result of insecticide exposure (chlorpyriphos methyl, cypermethrin, alphacypermethrine). Repeated maize crop and insecticides spraying increased the abundance of the aphid population and negatively affected the aphid predator community, which mainly included ladybirds, hoverflies, true bugs and lacewings. The predator community was dominated by hoverflies in sprayed fields managed according to repeated maize crop protocols, whereas ladybirds and Orius spp. dominated in maize fields managed according to crop rotation protocols. Crop rotation protocols help to prevent ECB outbreaks; when the risk of exceeding the economic threshold limit is high, and this may be the case when maize is cultivated for seeds or for horticultural crops such as sweet corn, inundative release of T. brassicae and/or microbial control (i.e., use of Bacillus thuringiensis preparations) can integrate natural biocontrol, and provide a valuable alternative to chemical insecticides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both sleep and cognition are partially modulated by the endocannabinoid (ECB) system. Cannabis has been reported to have effects on sleep and cognition. This review aims to summarize the recent literature on the ECB system, the role of cannabis and the ECB system on sleep regulation and cognition. Further, this review will identify existing gaps in knowledge and suggest potential targets for future research. We performed this review in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Reports were identified by searching PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, and PsycINFO for articles published through September 2021 for studies with data available on aspects of cognition, cannabis, or the ECB system, and sleep or circadian rhythms (CRs). We identified 6 human and 6 animal studies to be eligible for inclusion in this review. Several human studies found that cannabis use is not associated with changes in sleep quality or cognitive function. However, individual cannabinoids appeared to have independent effects on cognition and sleep; THC alone decreased cognitive performance and increased daytime sleepiness, whereas CBD alone had no effect on sleep or cognition. Animal studies demonstrated that manipulation of the ECB system altered activity and cognitive function, some of which appeared to be dependent on the light/dark cycle. The sleep-wake cycle and CRs are both likely modulated by the ECB system, potentially resulting in effects on cognition, however this area is critically understudied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The European corn borer (ECB), Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), is a major pest insect in maize. New cultivars and climate change have allowed range expansion of the crop northwards in Europe, and a similar range expansion of associated pests has been predicted. ECB exists as two distinct pheromone strains using different blends of (E)‐11‐tetradecenyl acetate and (Z)‐11‐tetradecenyl acetate for sexual communication; in addition, the Z‐strain feeds almost exclusively on maize. In Sweden, the maize cropping area has increased tenfold during the last two decades, increasing the potential for spread of the Z‐strain, which was recorded for the first time in the country in 2010. Aim of the study/methods: In this study, we performed trapping experiments with strain‐specific lures in maize fields in southern Sweden during 2013–2022 to monitor the presence and relative abundance of the two ECB strains and evaluate the potential increase of the Z‐strain. Trapping was also performed at least 5 km away from maize fields. Molecular markers were used to verify the strain identity of trapped males and larvae that fed on maize. Results: Catch data revealed that both pheromone strains were present in the major maize cultivation areas of Sweden, as predicted by recent modelling studies. Our data indicate that the flight period of ECB in southern Sweden lasts from the middle of June to late August, with peak flight in July. Catches of both strains were low at all trapping sites and throughout the study period and decreased further during the years following the dry summer of 2018. No Z‐strain males were trapped far away from maize fields. Conclusion: Based on our results, and the low levels of ECB‐related damage observed in local maize fields, the Z‐strain is currently not imposing a threat to Swedish maize growers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have placed a renewed strain on the economic governance of the European Union (EU). The European Central Bank (ECB) was a key player in the EU's response to the crisis induced by the pandemic. This paper adopts a theoretical approach focused on policy learning to explain how and why the ECB responded to the crisis in 2020–2021. By drawing on speeches, newspaper articles and interviews with policy-makers, the paper finds that the ECB was able to rely on earlier crisis experiences in the euro area in forming its response to the pandemic crisis. Although the sovereign debt crisis and the pandemic crisis had both similarities and differences from one another, the ECB was able to engage in inter-crisis and intra-crisis learning. Its learning concerned objectives, instruments as well as an awareness that timely and forceful response was crucial, so that the member states and other EU institutions had time to act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, and in particular since the shift towards independent central banks, there has been no explicit coordination of fiscal and monetary policy. In the Eurozone, this lack of coordination represents an important flaw, especially since the Eurozone is not an optimal currency area. Complementing monetary union with a transfer union represents one possible solution. This paper argues that the negative impact of post-2008 and post-Covid-19 unconventional monetary policy on income inequalities provides a second reason to coordinate fiscal and monetary policy. Among various institutional arrangements to implement such coordination, the paper defends the idea that the European Central Bank should be sensitive to distributive considerations when formulating its monetary policy. Such an arrangement would help both to contain the distributive side-effects of monetary policy and to at least partially remedy the flaw at the heart of the Eurozone as long as an outright transfer union remains unfeasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 1 January 1999, the ECB assumed responsibility for enforcing monetary policy in the Euro area. The primary objective of the European Central Bank is to maintain price stability in the Euro area. The setting of price stability as prime objective is recognition of the theoretical and empirical evidence accumulated over time. However, this evidence shows that monetary policy can only affect prices in the long run and high rates of inflation are detrimental to growth and employment in the long run. İn order to specify the objective of price stability ECB announced a quantitative definition of price stabilitiy. The quantitative definition of price stability is the first element of ECB's monetary policy strategy. The second element of this strategy is a two pillar approach to analysis of the risk to price stability. One pillar referred to as the "economic analysis", is aimed at assessing the short term determinants of price developments. A second pillar referred to "monetary analysis" attaches a prominent role to money, reflecting the fundemental tenet that over the longer run both inflation and deflation are monetary phenomena. The objective of this study is to discuss the main element of ECB's monetary policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article revisits the balancing act between independence and accountability at the European Central Bank (ECB). It contrasts procedural and substantive concepts of accountability, and challenges the mainstream idea that independence and accountability can be reconciled through narrow mandates, the indiscriminate increase of transparency, the creation of multiple channels of accountability, and the active use of judicial review. These assumptions form the pillars of a procedural type of accountability that promises to resolve the independence/accountability dilemma but fails to do so in practice. The article brings evidence to show how ECB accountability has become a complex administrative exercise that focuses on the procedural steps leading up to monetary and supervisory decisions while simultaneously limiting substantive accountability. The failure to acknowledge the trade‐off between independence and accountability (said to be 'two sides of the same coin') has resulted in a tendency to privilege the former over the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Central Bank (ECB), like all European institutions, poses basic problems of definition and comparability. Mobilizing Bourdieusian field theory (BFT) to resolve them, we map out the ECB's deep investments in scientific prestige and scholarly productivity – that is, its hyper-scientization – and the ambiguities therein, and then set out to explain them. Mobilizing diverse sources that include official documents, on-site interviews, and comparative data, we argue that hyper-scientization is a field effect expressing the ECB's origins and cross-location in three worlds: financial institutions, professional economics, and European politics. We then trace out the signs and symptoms of cross-location. First, we trace the origins of the ECB's directorate for research, DGR, which differentiated the ECB from most other European central banks at the time of its founding. Thus invested, the ECB accelerated its scholarly activities in step with the internationalization and scientization of economics. But this also expressed the ECB's stake in European authority struggles: research exchanges are a means of building relationships with national central banks, which was especially crucial in the lead-up to the European Union's (EU) 2004 enlargement. We thus argue that there is more to the ECB than its independence and policy operations, and that some of its most striking features are best explained as effects of its multiple field locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]