Track E · InstitutionsNode E2
Central banks compared
Layer 1 · Pocket
~ 30s readThe thirty-second answer
What is this?
Fed, ECB, BoE, BoJ, PBoC. Same job description, very different jobs. Treating them as equivalent is the most common error in central-bank commentary.
Why should I care?
Your mortgage rate is set by the Fed; your imported-goods prices by an exchange rate that depends on Tokyo, Frankfurt, and Beijing as well. You have multiple central banks in your life — knowing which one does what changes how you read every "central banks are doing X" headline.
Five central banks · primary mandate
- Fed
- prices + employment
- ECB
- prices first
- BoE
- prices, with caveats
- BoJ
- prices (after deflation)
- PBoC
- stability + state goals