Strategic knowledge production: Central bank scientisation in climate change and digital currencies

Abstract

Why are contemporary central banks – institutions designed to be narrow, technical, and apolitical – suddenly publishing extensively on non-monetary topics? This research essay explores how knowledge production has become central banks’ primary tool for managing a fundamental tension: expanding the scope of their interventions while maintaining technocratic legitimacy. By analysing their knowledge production across two key domains – climate change and digital currencies – we identify two axes of ‘scientisation’: boundary-pushing/keeping; and proactive/reactive. This suggests scientisation can be seen as a strategic response to mandate uncertainty, transforming expert knowledge into both a vehicle for negotiating central banks’ political mandate and a shield against democratic accountability. The implications of our findings extend beyond central banks, speaking to fundamental questions over technocratic power in an era of perpetual crisis.