Articles by Central Banking staff
Economics Benchmarks 2024 – executive summary
The benchmark drills into model design features as well as staffing, research and AI
Five veterans join Central Banking's advisory board
New members come from Italy, Kenya, Singapore, Switzerland and the US
Share of economics departments with data unit rises
Web scraping and administrative data are top alternative sources for economists
Heterogeneous agents and non-linearities rare in main models
Semi-structural models continue to be dominant choice of main forecast model at central banks
Economists commonly use AI for data analysis
Lower-middle income countries, Africa and Asia-Pacific report lower use of AI
Economists least likely to research impact of AI
Inflation dynamics retains position at top of the rankings
Peer-reviewed journals still top gauge for research impact
Smaller teams more likely to consider conference presentations as assessment tool
Banknotes: October to December 2024
A round-up of news and salient issues that have affected central bankers in the past three months
Inflation and GDP growth forecast errors decrease further
Forecast errors used widely for key model adjustments
People: October to December 2024
A round-up of central bankers in the news and on the move
One in five main models has endogenous financial sector
Benchmark highlights array of methods central banks use to model financial sector, but 40% still do not model the financial side of the economy
Central banks published fewer working papers and articles in 2023
Middle income and low income central banks published less
Time series and semi-structural models widely applied
High income countries more likely to use AI than peers from other income levels
Economic growth and inflation remain most forecast indicators
But year-on-year data show rising priority for exchange rates
Economics Benchmarks 2024 Charts
Take a deep dive into the Economics Benchmarks charts, which have just been released for 2024.
Policy analysis takes most of PhD economists’ time
Other tasks consume just a quarter of their official hours
Two-thirds of central banks forecast policy rate in main models
But relatively few make their rate forecasts public
Economists’ median salary falls below $30,000 a year
Annual budget of economics departments averages under $1 million
Policy economists outnumber research colleagues
Economics FTE staff make up 4% of central banks’ overall employees, on average
Economics teams tend to be tailored by institution
But hub and spoke model is prevalent among high income respondents
Currency Benchmarks 2024 – executive summary
Data sheds light on banknote design features, access to cash policies and cash cycle management
Central Banking FinTech & RegTech Global Awards 2024
Central Banking’s seventh annual FinTech & RegTech Global Awards showcase the ground-breaking projects undertaken within the central banking community
Central Banking’s seventh annual FinTech & RegTech Global Awards
Central Banking is pleased to announce the winners of its seventh annual FinTech & RegTech Global Awards recognising excellence in the central banking community
Most central banks forecast cash demand over one to three years
Median central bank expects 5% increase in cash in circulation in 2024