Economics
Holocaust survivor reparations boosted families’ education and wages
Bank of Israel paper studies the long-term consequences of compensation received by victims
Eurozone deficits and debt declined in Q3 2021
But debt levels in the bloc remain at high levels, especially in Southern Europe
Biden nominates three to Fed board
Republican senator signals likely opposition to president’s pick for top supervisor
Economics Benchmarks 2021 report – executive summary
Covid-19 coloured central banks’ views on the governance of their economics function in the past year, from research topics to forecasting, data, publications and more
BoE to publish ‘pop-economics’ book
‘Can’t we just print more money?’ is latest step in educational push by central bank
Book notes: The cost of free money, by Paola Subacchi
A book worth reading, as it facilitates further discussion on substantial issues, but doesn’t fully address some of the problems it takes aim at
Larger research teams tend to publish more
Central banks with bigger teams report greater publishing volumes, but variation remains
Advanced economies draw on wider range of models
DSGE models and newer techniques more common at advanced economy central banks
Quarterly forecast updates predominate
Frequency of forecasts varies more widely in emerging markets
Data services centralised at minority of central banks
Central data governance and technology services used by three in 10 central banks
BdF paper looks at use of capital controls and foreign reserves
Many countries combine both to moderate effects of international capital flows
Alternative data fuels central bank research
Important research areas include monetary transmission, exchange rates, digitisation, SMEs and climate change, against the backdrop of Covid
Cash: important for a fairer economy
One interesting economic story over the past year has been the growth in grassroots support for cash payments. Against the backdrop of the Covid‑19 pandemic and now debunked rumours that coins and banknotes could be significant transmission vectors for…
One in five central bank economists have a PhD
Central banks in Africa lag behind peers in sponsoring PhD programmes
Book notes: Empire of silver, by Jin Xu
A useful introduction to China’s monetary history, focusing on the last 1,000 years, but not the easiest of reads throughout
Economist salaries outpace GDP per capita
Salaries were six times higher than GDP per capita, on average
How Turkey’s president created chaos in economic policy-making
Observers allege presidential domination of the central bank, unauthorised FX transactions and untrustworthy statistics
Policy economists outnumber research economists
Central banks with their own pure research departments tend to employ more policy economists
Nearly 40% of central banks have financial sector in main forecast model
Semi-structural models remain favoured option for producing key forecasts
Economists tend to perform both policy and research duties
Only around a quarter of economics departments have a pure research function
Fed's monetary policy ‘spillbacks’ have significant effects – ECB paper
Researchers estimate how impact of Fed policy on foreign economies in turn affects US
ECB paper examines exchange rates and household consumption
Exchange rate elasticity of household consumption driven largely by industrial goods - researchers
Should ESG reporting be made mandatory?
As concern around the impact of climate change on businesses grows, many regulators have announced their intentions to include ESG requirements in reporting frameworks
New York Fed opens new research centre
Marco Del Negro will lead work on research methods and issues in macroeconomics