Beethoven and the Bank of England

摘要

Mervyn King's policymaking credentials are well established. A Cambridge-educated economist who taught at Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the London School of Economics, King has been a pioneering proponent of inflation-targeting as a central bank strategy, first as the Bank of England's chief economist and then, since June 2003, as governor. Less well known is his love of music, a passion he developed relatively late in life and one that he shares with another noted policymaker, Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan. King likens the bank's Monetary Policy Committee to a string quartet playing Beethoven, for its combination of individuality and collaboration. But unlike Greenspan, the domineering maestro of the Fed, the Bank of England governor considers himself a modest first violinist ― influencing the direction of debate but still only one member of the policymaking ensemble.