Central banking after two turbulent decades: economics and political economy

Call for Papers “Central banking after two turbulent decades: economics and political economy”

The deadline for paper submission is 4 December 2026 at 12:00 CET

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.

Michael Ehrmann (Frankfurt School of Finance & Management) will deliver the keynote lecture on monetary policy.

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

Local organisation
Baffi Centre on Economics, Finance and Regulation, Bocconi University

Funding
The conference is sponsored jointly by SUERF, the Baffi Centre on Economics, Finance and Regulation (Bocconi University) and the European Journal of Political Economy. The Organizers will pay for accommodation and economy class travel of the invited academic speakers and discussants if the presenter’s institution cannot cover these costs. Speakers from central banks, financial and policy institutions are kindly invited to cover their costs in full.

Special issue
A related special issue of the European Journal of Political Economy will be announced around the time of the conference. It will have its own call for papers, open to all authors, and its own submission deadline. Conference participants are warmly encouraged to submit, as are authors who do not attend. All submissions are handled through the journal’s standard refereeing process, and presentation at the conference confers no advantage in that process.

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.