MONETA – Central Banking, Sustainable Finance

WHAT WE DO

Unit directors: Donato Masciandaro; Laura Zanetti

MONETA - epithet of Giunione, goodness and guardian/protector of Roman Mint - is a research unit focused on central banking  -  i.e. monetary and financial policies - and its activity is intertwined with the initiatives of the Chair in Economics of Financial Regulation. In 2005 the UB establishment of the  Chair in Economics of Financial Regulation anticipated well in advance what has been worldwide evident after the 2008 Great Crisis: the need of deep  reflections on the state of  the relationships between monetary policy, financial supervision (micro and macro prudential) and regulation.

Today it is even more evident that the three policies, which are usually but not exclusively implemented via the activities of the central banks, are still in a state of  flux. In the traditional mainstream  the three  tales are told separately.  On this respect, the present strand of research of the Unit includes, among others,  the role of gender, as well as the influence of psychological and behavioural  biases, in shaping the central bank decisions.

On top of that, the research activity is devoted to explore how the regulatory and supervisory design and implementation can address the issue of the financial integrity, i.e. how to prevent and combat the threat of money laundering and terrorism finance at national and international level. 

In parallel, the Unit will explore  sustainable finance  as  a fundamental policy goal, especially in a post-Coronavirus scenario. Sustainable finance is the application of the concept of sustainable development to financial activity. The Unit will be committed to disseminating the culture of sustainability and promoting a responsible approach to investments, with particular reference to environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics.