Monetary Policy and Economic Imbalances: An Ethnographic Examination of Central Bank Rituals

Abstract

We apply the ethnographic tools of economic anthropology to analyse a particular ritual performed by the high priest of the Arbee sub‐tribe in the South Pacific island group of Aotearoa. (In other island groups, this high priest is sometimes known as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.) The ritual is considered by many within Aotearoa to be the cause of The Imbalance in The Economy. We analyse this claim and show that it has similarities (and equal validity) to claims of other cargo cults within the South‐West Pacific region.