The Americas
Fed research looks at second-round effects of oil price inflation
Late 2022 oil price rally could cause inflationary pressure as late as mid-2025, paper finds
Milei confirms Santiago Bausili as BCRA pick
Appeals court recently dismissed conflict–of-interest charges against governor-designate
Administrative data tops list as alternative data source
Research and forecasting remain key areas of application for central bank economists
Economists’ rate of access to centralised data services still below par
Central banks in high-income jurisdictions still have more access
Most heads of research are responsible for sign-off on research
Peer-reviewed papers remain most-used metric for measuring research success
Central banks average 11 working papers over the past year
Just over a quarter of central banks run research blogs
Central banks prioritise inflation dynamics research
Middle income institutions tend to have much widest research interests
Heatwave cost Texas 1% of GDP in 2023, says Dallas Fed research
Higher temperatures have significant effects on productivity, but less on jobs, paper finds
Time series model is top tool for forecasting and research
Use of machine learning models for research purposes surges year on year
Argentina’s Milei struggles to find central bank governor
Two candidates refuse position amid uncertainty over dollarisation plans
Economic growth and inflation are most-forecast variables
Private debt, commodity prices and market interest rates rank as laggards
Most new economic staff hired as fresh graduates
Recruits from private sector, academia make up smaller portion of new hires
Proportion of central bank economists with PhD rises
Central banks split on funding economic staff with PhD aspirations
CBDC features will have financial stability effects – Fed paper
Design choices could cut chance of bank runs and disintermediation, authors say
Smaller US banks face unequal real estate risk, paper says
St Louis Fed research finds lenders hold 40% to 75% of commercial real estate debt
Median salary of central bank economists rises as inflation bites
Income remains less aligned with GDP per capita of participating countries
Economics department staff total just over 70 on average
Average number of research economists remains smaller than policy economists
US cash usage may have hit its floor, says Boston Fed
Consumers prefer credit cards, the top payment method in 2022, for online payments
CBDCs could challenge foundations of monetary economics, says Tombini
BIS Americas chief thinks digital currencies could co-exist with other rapid payment systems
Most central banks forecast currency demand over 1–3 years
Minority of institutions use big data for forecasting purposes
Fewer than 100 staff work in currency divisions on average
Duties including upholding Covid-19 countermeasures in some jurisdictions
Average value of counterfeit banknotes rises
UV ink the most common security tool used in battle against fake banknotes
Polymer adoption stalls in 2023
Only two benchmark respondents have concrete plans to change substrate
Central banks maintain average of four cash centres
Figure has remained stable for the last five years