Call for Papers - "Central banking after two turbulent decades: economics and political economy"

SUERF, the Baffi Centre on Economics, Finance and Regulation (Bocconi University) and the European Journal of Political Economy invite submissions for a conference on the economics and political economy of central banking. The aim of the conference is to bring together leading scholars and policymakers to discuss the lessons of the past two decades and the challenges ahead for central banks.

In 2007, BNP Paribas suspended redemptions from three investment funds exposed to the U.S. subprime mortgage market, in what is widely regarded as one of the first major signals of the Global Financial Crisis. In the two decades that followed, central banks became pivotal actors in responding to a succession of economic and financial disruptions. These developments led to a far-reaching reassessment of their role, mandates, objectives, instruments, and relationship with other public institutions. Twenty years later, we invite researchers to submit original papers examining that period and what follows from it.

We seek to attract papers of the highest academic quality, theoretical and empirical, on topics that include, but are not limited to, the following:

• central bank independence, accountability, and institutional design.
• monetary policy instruments, operations, and communication.
• central banks and payment systems, including digital currencies.
• central banks and macroprudential policy.
• monetary and fiscal policy interactions.
• central banking and climate change.
• central banking, distribution, and inequality.
• central banking and artificial intelligence.

Confirmed Speakers
Michael Ehrmann (Frankfurt School of Finance & Management) will deliver the keynote lecture on monetary policy. Elena Carletti (Bocconi University) will deliver the keynote lecture on banking regulation and supervision. The conference will also feature a policy panel (June 18), moderated by Chris Giles (Financial Times), Policy Panel Members Piero Cipollone (European Central Bank), Michala Marcussen (Société Générale), Sergiy Nikolaychuk (National Bank of Ukraine), Isabel Schnabel (to be confirmed).

Scientific Committee
Jakob de Haan (SUERF and University of Groningen), Donato Masciandaro (SUERF, Baffi Centre and Bocconi University), and Davide Romelli (SUERF, Baffi Centre, EJPE and Trinity College Dublin).

How to apply
Papers should be submitted in complete draft form through the online submission form  in PDF format by 4 December 2026 at 12:00 CET. Authors will be notified by February 2027. The conference will feature about ten paper presentations with discussants. It will start at 13:00 on Thursday 17 June and will finish in the late afternoon of Friday 18 June.