Does a Good Central Bank Governor Make a Difference?

Abstract

The president Mario Draghi ended his mandate as European Central Bank governor the last October 31. They have not been easy years for him, in the midst of the 2008 and the European public debt crisis while, in more recent time the Brexit situation, the new wave of anti-euro governments, the American duties war and the German slowdown. Different are the Draghi's speeches and interventions through which somehow he "saved" the Eurozone, from the famous "Whatever it takes" and "The Euro is irreversible" to the European unconventional measure Quantitative Easing (QE). I'll examine the sign, let's say, of the "Draghi's effect" thus, what would have happened if Draghi had not been the ECB president? Using the GDP percentage growth as a proxy of the Draghi's impact, I found that the "Draghi's effect" is positive, in general and mostly for the countries most affected by the Great Recession (Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece). As conclusion without (Super) Draghi and his measures, the Euro Area members would have been in a worst situation in terms of GDP growth.