The Bank of Japan: Monetary Policy, Central Bank Independence and Central Bank Transparency

Meet Markus Heckel, Senior Research Fellow at the German Institute for Japanese Studies for a seminar on The Bank of Japan

The French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan is pleased to invite you to the next lunch seminar of the French Research Institute (MFJ) on Japan on Friday, June 14.

This study focuses on the central bank independence and transparency of the Bank of Japan and works on the research question of how the concept of central bank independence (including monetary policy making) is understood and executed in the Bank of Japan. The analysis includes the question if the Bank of Japan can be regarded as an independent central bank (de jure and de facto) considering the composition and appointment of its Monetary Policy Board members.

This study starts with an analysis on central bank transparency (e.g. Geraats 2002; Eijffinger and Geraats 2006; Blinder et al. 2008), contributing to this research by adding the Bank of Japan as a case study. Comparisons with other main central banks (e.g. European Central Bank, US Federal Reserve System, Bank of England) are added to gain a broader understanding. Using the method of discourse analysis, this study seeks to illuminate the process of decision-making of the Bank of Japan’s Policy Board as one part of central bank independence, transparency and communication as well as their outcomes (in regards to monetary policy).

About the speaker

Markus Heckel is a Senior Research Fellow at the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ) since November 2018.

From 2012 to 2018 he has been working at the Chair for the Study of Economic Institutions, Innovation and East Asian Development at the Goethe University Frankfurt. He received his PhD with a study on the Bank of Japan at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

His main research interests include macroeconomics, the political economy of central banks and labor economics.

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