Former shadow chancellor Ed Balls has called for the Bank of England's independence to be curbed in response to growing "popular discontent".
In an academic paper, he said central banks could "sacrifice some political independence" without undermining their ability to do their job.
"We need a more nuanced approach to central bank independence in this brave new world," he added.
A former top Bank official said Mr Balls had raised "an important issue".
Andrew Sentance, who used to be on the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee, told the BBC's Today programme: "In the UK we have a model where the government sets a remit for the Bank of England, and the government could change that remit, and I think there is a case for looking again at that remit to say whether it's the right one in the circumstances we now face after the financial crisis."
Mr Balls' views came in a paper for Harvard University's Kennedy School, co-written with James Howat and Anna Stansbury.
'Better dialogue'
For his part, Mr Balls told the Today programme that in order to protect its operational independence, the Bank needed "more political support and accountability". To that end, he said, there should be a "systemic risk body", chaired by the chancellor, to oversee policy.