Makram El-Shagi / Florian Gerth / Paul Lukuliko Philemon
CFDS Discussion Paper 2026/2
Abstract
We construct a new measure of monetary policy discretion by treating the predictable component of interest-rate changes as rule based and unexpected changes as discretionary. Using newly released high-frequency monetary policy shocks for 20 countries from 2000 to 2024, we document systematic cross-country variation in discretion. Two-way fixed-effects estimates show that greater central-bank independence is associated with higher discretion in developed economies. Event studies around irregular governor turnovers yield little evidence of politically driven discretionary shocks once transitional dynamics are accounted for.