Career experience, political effects, and voting behavior in the Riksbank's Monetary Policy Committee

•The determinants of voting behavior in the Swedish Riksbank are considered.•Voting is analyzed with random effects ordered logit models for 1999-2013.•Interplay of career experience and political factors shapes voting behavior.•Government or Riksbank background leads to higher interest rate votes.•Partisan voting behavior is detected for members with government background.

We find that career experience shapes the voting behavior of the Riksbank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members. Members with a career in the Riksbank and the government prefer higher rates. During a legislation with a center-right (center-left) party administration, MPC members with a career background in the government favor higher (lower) interest rates.