US-based academics have called for a "more nuanced" approach to central bank independence, amid growing pressure on the institutions from politicians and a spate of political attacks on top central bankers.

Harvard economists Ed Balls (formerly the UK's shadow chancellor), James Howat and Anna Stansbury recognise the value of central banks' operational independence in a new working paper, but say questions of legitimacy point to the need for curbs on their political independence – defined as