Data on Central Bank Governors

This database contains information on the term in office of central bank governors for almost all countries in the world starting from the year 1970. Most information was received directly from central banks. Some central banks provide data on previous governors on their website, from others we received the information through written enquiries. Additional sources are Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's Central Bank Directory and the databases introduced by Cukierman et al. (1992) and Sturm and De Haan (2001).

When using this data, please cite:

Dreher, Axel, Jan-Egbert Sturm and Jakob de Haan (2010), When is a Central Bank Governor Replaced? Evidence Based on a New Data Set, Journal of Macroeconomics, 32, 766-781.

Dreher, Axel, Jan-Egbert Sturm and Jakob de Haan (2008), Does high inflation cause central bankers to lose their job? Evidence based on a new data set, European Journal of Political Economy, 24:4, 778-787.
(A working paper version is available as KOF Working Paper No. 167.)

Sturm, Jan-Egbert and Jakob de Haan (2001), Inflation in developing countries: does central bank independence matter?, Ifo Studien, 47:4, 389-403.

Updated April 26, 2012

Note: this database also includes all previous vintages.