Benchmarking
Rethinking the CCyB
As central banks rush to replenish bank capital reserves, the countercyclical buffer may need some fine-tuning
Economics Benchmarks 2022 charts
Take a deep dive into the Economics Benchmarks charts, which have just been released for 2022
Economics Benchmarks 2022 – executive summary
Key findings of the 2022 report, including model choices, governance structures and data use
Economics Benchmarks 2022 report – evolving models
Central banks continued to develop their modelling frameworks in 2022, as some longer-term trends in governance structures and research agendas emerged from the data
Earnings power of economists remains above GDP per capita
Emerging market professionals earn lowest median salary, but incomes still more than double national average
Most institutions use time-series models for forecasting
Use of models differs across jurisdictions by income size
More than half of institutions favour semi-structural models
Just 35% of institutions include financial sector in key modelling
Central banks forecast GDP less accurately than inflation
Over half of central banks reviewed models in a bid to project more accurately
Majority of central banks prefer economists with master’s degree
Economists are sponsored more for training than for PhDs
Economics teams constitute just a fraction of central banks’ total workforce
Most institutions have more policy economists than research colleagues
Staff with PhDs make up 21.3% of average economics department
Four-fifths of advanced economy institutions sponsor economists to undertake PhD qualification
Central banks judge success of research by number of publications
Inflation and exchange rate most topical issues for central banks
Use of centralised data services increases across institutions
Rise of central data teams has gone hand in hand with greater use of alternative data
Alternative data used at most central banks
Non-traditional data such as Google searches widely used to support research and forecasting
Research economists devote more working time to own projects
On average, own research works consume 25% of policy economists’ working time
Advanced economy institutions tend to produce more papers
Emerging market researchers averaged five papers a year in peer-reviewed journals
Research agenda determined across multiple levels
Governors and deputy governors give final sign-off on most research publications
Currency Benchmarks 2022 report – executive summary
Cash far from extinct and volumes continue to grow in many places
Majority of banks blend research and policy functions
Only one in five jurisdictions restructured economics unit in the past 12 months
Growth and inflation are top forecast indicators
More emerging markets forecast growth and inflation compared with the past year
Currency Benchmarks 2022 charts
Take a deep dive into the Currency Benchmarks charts, which have just been released for 2022
Currency Benchmarks 2022 report – a slow evolution continues
Cash usage persists, polymer makes advances and volumes are expected to rise
The long road to 24-hour RTGSs
Extended hours would help international payments but some central banks challenge the business case
Banknote volumes and values rose among most central banks
Most recent estimates show volume and value of circulating notes rising in 2022