Fünf weise ECB-Watcher?

Abstract

Abstract The German Council of Economic Experts (Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, SVR) is the most prominent institution of economically based policy advice in Germany. In their comprehensive annual report, the five experts critically assess current economic policy. Since 1999, the ECB has also had to face this criticism. The five experts argue fairly and constructively, but also critically. This critical argumentation results from the Council‘s stability-oriented and ordoliberal basic stance. In contrast to the ECB, the SVR sees inflation risks rather than deflation risks, argues not on a case-by-case basis but on the basis of monetary policy rules, and repeatedly points to the interdependence of the sub-regimes of the economic order, for example when it warns of fiscal or financial dominance of monetary policy. These findings can contribute to the scholarly debate on how the traditionally critical attitude of the German public towards the ECB and its policies comes to be.