Money creates power.

Power pressures money.

Central banks stand between them.

Discover why their independence is a vital national interest.

Central banks play a critical role in preserving the value of money and supporting economic stability. When inflation rises, the wages people earn buy less. When unemployment rises, people lose the ability to earn those wages at all. Managing these risks is one of the core responsibilities of a central bank, which uses monetary policy — primarily interest rates and control of the money supply — to maintain price stability and support employment.

These responsibilities differ from those of elected governments. Governments set fiscal policy, determining how much to borrow and spend. Central banks, by contrast, must make decisions about interest rates and money supply that affect the entire economy. For this reason, modern democracies maintain a clear institutional separation: central banks operate independently from governments so they can carry out their mandates without political pressure.

In this RMCSD Fireside Chat, two distinguished practitioners of monetary policy will explore why that independence is essential to economic stability and ultimately to state sovereignty.

The discussion will feature Donald Kohn, former Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve and former member of the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England, now a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Joining him is Paul Beaudry, former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada and now Professor of Economics at the University of British Columbia.

Drawing on experience in the U.S., U.K., and Canadian systems, they will examine how monetary policy contributes to financial stability, supports economic resilience, and interacts with government fiscal policy. The discussion will also explore why central bank independence is not simply a technical preference, but a strategic necessity that underpins economic security and democratic governance.

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