Yet there is also good reason to worry. An independent central bank can be better trusted to act swiftly to curb inflation. That trust also gives it freedom to cut interest rates when the economy turns down. The kinds of problems set by a booming world economy and elevated asset prices are best tackled by experts at some distance from politics. What central banks need is not the appointment of officials who are less inclined to disappoint their political masters. It is new thinking about how to make overmighty central banks more accountable to electorates, while at the same time shielding them from day-to-day political pressure.
It is natural for politicians to want to hug central bankers closer. The bankers’ powers have grown since the financial crisis of 2007-08 in part because governments have themselves been unable or unwilling to act. Central banks kept credit markets working, bailed out banks and gave confidence to shaky bond markets. They have since been given, or been given back, powers to regulate banks and to preserve financial stability.
The politicians’ instinct to appoint one of their own will be amplified in Europe by the usual horse-trading among euro-zone members. Spain believes it is high time it got a top ECB job, and is claiming the vice-presidency. Were a Spaniard to be appointed, it might imply Mr Draghi’s job will go to a northern European (though perhaps not to a German) to preserve balance between the euro zone’s core and periphery. France will lose one post, so must gain another. And so on. It is unlikely that someone with the qualities of Ms Yellen or Mr Draghi will emerge from such a messy process.
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