Need central bankers be trained economists? The US does not think so. Donald Kohn's announcement that he is leaving the Federal Reserve in June leaves Ben Bernanke as the only economics specialist on the board of governors. Likewise, in Australia more than half the committee that jacked up interest rates last week were never forced to read Keynes in the original. Not so at the European Central Bank, where doctorates in economics are almost de rigueur. And all but one of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee were formally educated in the dismal science. Are CVs, therefore, irrelevant? After all, during the financial crisis central banks stacked with academics as well as those with mixed boards were praised and criticised alike. But surely not everyone qualifies. Markets would certainly not tolerate policymakers at the Bank of Canada, say, being made up entirely of ice hockey players – because the holy grail of central banking is credibility.
中央銀行的官員們必須是接受過培訓(xùn)的經(jīng)濟學(xué)家嗎？美國并不這樣認(rèn)為。唐納德?科恩(Donald Kohn)宣布今年6月將離開美聯(lián)儲(Fed)，這將使本?伯南克(Ben Bernanke)成為美聯(lián)儲理事中唯一一位經(jīng)濟學(xué)專家。同樣，在上周宣布加息的澳大利亞央行貨幣政策委員會中，逾半數(shù)的委員從未被迫閱讀過凱恩斯(Keynes)的原著。而歐洲央行(ECB)的情況卻并非如此——擁有經(jīng)濟學(xué)博士頭銜幾乎成了必要條件。在英國央行(BOE)貨幣政策委員會中，除一人以外，其他委員都正式接受過這種枯燥乏味學(xué)科的教育。那么，簡歷是否毫不相干呢？畢竟，在金融危機期間，全部由學(xué)者組成的央行和那些只有少數(shù)學(xué)者的央行，同樣也都受到了贊揚和抨擊。但肯定不是所有人都具備資格。比如說，市場當(dāng)然不會容忍加拿大央行(Bank of Canada)的政策制定者完全由冰球選手組成——因為在中央銀行業(yè)，信譽被奉為圭皋。