Adam Smith Business School

Dr Stefan Kesting, University of Leeds

"How can Habermas's theory of deliberative democracy underpin central bankers' communication as a source of their legitimacy " 

Wednesday, 15 Septmber 11:00 - 13:00
Room 282, Adam Smith Business School 

Abstract

In recent years, central banks responded to the threat to their legitimacy and independence by increasing transparency as to their decision making and re-evaluating their communication which has become a key instrument of managing the goals of monetary policy, of regulatory and other policy interventions. This enhanced transparency is a response to the increased politicised scrutiny central banks have experienced due to their growing power and ubiquity of goals taken on by them. Another concern are the wealth and income distributional effects of central bank interventions. The policy goals range from traditional inflation targeting and securing financial stability to underpinning public debt amassed in crises to dealing with climate change. We argue that transparent communication is not enough to support legitimacy and suggest stronger deliberative democratic embeddedness of central bank policies. This institutional proposal is based on Jürgen Habermas’s ideas explained in his book Facts and Norms (1992).

Key words: deliberative democracy, central banks, Habermas, legitimacy, climate change, wealth distribution

 Bio

Dr Stefan Kesting is a Lecturer Teaching & Scholarship at LUBS. He has previously taught at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand, University of Missouri, Kansas City, USA and University of Bremen, Germany where he obtained his MA diploma and his PhD in economics. His main research interests include: the interactive linguistic turn in economic theory (in particular: central bank communication), ethics & economics, ecological sustainability, the institutional economics of the gift as well as post-Keynesian and Frankfurt School economics. Stefan led the LUBS economics undergraduate programmes from 2012 until 2017. During this time the Guardian ranking for economics at Leeds moved from 2011: 32, 2012: 37, 2013: 19, 2014: 14, 2015: 10, 2016: 6 to 1017: 3. Stefan was external examiner at the economics departments of the University of the West of England, Bristol, tenure: 1 October 2015 – 30 September 2019 and Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, economics and international business department, tenure 1 September 2016 – 31 December 2020. Since September 2022, he is Curriculum Redefined Champion for the economics department with particular focus on: 1) developing the academic personal tutoring practice and 2) extending the approach to active learning as well as 3) the decolonisation of the curriculum.

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First published: 26 August 2025