Talking about growth, the discourse of the European Central Bank, 1997-2021

Titolo Rivista HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY
Autori/Curatori Eric Dehay
Anno di pubblicazione 2022 Fascicolo 2022/1
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 22 P. 61-82 Dimensione file 118 KB
DOI 10.3280/SPE2022-001004
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The text proposes an analysis of the way the European Central Bank (ECB) considers the notion of economic growth or its limits and how the question of envi-ronmental risk has become an issue for it. For this purpose, an analysis of the speeches of the members of its board is carried out over the period 1997-2021. An automated statistical analysis of the corpus reveals the standard approach to growth adopted by the ECB. This is followed by a more qualitative reading of the discourse, which shows that the notions of sustainability and the climate crisis are becoming increasingly important in the rhetoric of the ECB, without leading to a radical revision of the way growth is conceived or to a questioning of its limits. In order to expand its discourse and action in the climate field, the ECB is rather pro-ceeding by superimposition, adding new ideas rather than replacing its initial paradigm. In doing so, it protects the legitimacy of its mandate and its epistemic credibility.

Keywords:European central bank, textual analysis, growth, climate change.

Jel codes:E58, E65, O43, Q54

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Eric Dehay, Talking about growth, the discourse of the European Central Bank, 1997-2021 in "HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY" 1/2022, pp 61-82, DOI: 10.3280/SPE2022-001004