Central Banking, Technocratic Governance and the Financial Crisis

Placing Quantitative Easing Into Question

Authors

• Nicholas Gane

Keywords:

Banking, capitalism, crisis, finance, inequality, Minsky, neoliberalism

Abstract

This paper advances a sociological analysis of one of the key monetary responses to the recent financial crisis: quantitative easing. First, it provides a brief history and overview of the operation of quantitative easing. Second, it examines the neoliberal basis of this monetary policy by analysing its institutional design and looking, in brief, at the post-crisis relationship between the Bank of England and the UK Treasury. Third, it places into question the relationship between quantitative easing and social inequality. Fourth, it uses the work of Hyman Minsky to address the broader role of central banks in the face of financial crisis. In conclusion, it is argued that it is necessary to engage critically with initiatives such as quantitative easing rather than to describe and document the social inequalities they both generate and help reproduce.