“The Power of EMU-Ideas: Reforming Central Banks in Great Britain, France, and Sweden”

Marcussen, Martin. (1999) “The Power of EMU-Ideas: Reforming Central Banks in Great Britain, France, and Sweden”. In: UNSPECIFIED, Pittsburgh, PA. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This paper attempts to explain central bank reform in Great Britain, France, and Sweden with a reference to “the power of ideas.” It is argued that European macro-economic elites feel that they belong to an international macro-economic community and that they share a common belief system based on the “sound policy” concept. The international macro-economic community provides them with a sense of belonging which they will aspire to maintain through “appropriate” policy discourse and action. If there is a perceived misfit between the ideas on which the European macro-economic organizational field is built and a particular set of domestic structures, macro-economic elites will, as a result of this search for continued international legitimacy, aspire to undertake domestic reforms where and when it was not otherwise expected. However, national macro-economic elites also have a legitimacy game to play at the national level. Through their domestic policy discourse they will have to construct a fit between the domestic institutional context and a set of EMU ideas. The timing of domestic reforms based on EMU ideas, therefore, depends on whether the domestic institutional context is facilitating or constraining such an undertaking.

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