Many of the research contributions from the Bank of Finland were published in leading economics and finance journals in 2022. New research projects dealt extensively with topics such as monetary policy transmission and inflation expectations. Because of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the activities of the Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT) in 2022 were shaped by the need to provide up-to-date analysis and communication.

Research at the Bank of Finland supports the preparatory work on monetary policy in a variety of ways and helps to gain a better understanding of the transmission of monetary policy.

A good example of the Bank of Finland’s research contribution in this area is the research article in English entitled ‘IQ, Expectations, and Choice’ by Francesco D’Acunto, Daniel Hoang, Maritta Paloviita and Michael Weber, which examined the impact of cognitive abilities on the formation of consumers’ inflation expectations and consumption plans. The article was published in the influential Review of Economic Studies.

In 2022, analysis of the economic consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine took a significant role in the activities of the Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).

There was a very high demand for research-based information and reasoned opinions in 2022, not only in Finland but also globally. In addition, the scope of BOFIT’s activities was expanded during the year to cover monitoring and analysis of developments in the global economy.

Bank of Finland discussion papers in 2022

The Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers, which are all published in English, covered, in 2022, topics such as the impact of monetary policy on income and wealth distributions (Petri Mäki-Fränti, Aino Silvo, Adam Gulan and Juha Kilponen), credit risk and liquidity margins on euro area sovereign bonds (Juuso Nissinen and Markus Sihvonen) and the long-term scarring effects of deep recessions (David Aikman, Mathias Drehmann, Mikael Juselius and Xiaochuan Xing). Michaela Elfsbacka-Schmöller studied the effects of fiscal policy, and (together with Martin Spitzer) of monetary policy, on long-term growth. Other themes included public funding of banks and companies in a time of crisis (Markus Haavio, Antti Ripatti and Tuomas Takalo), economic expectations during the pandemic (Gene Ambrocio and Iftekhar Hasan) and economic researchers’ views on the objectives of monetary policy (Gene Ambrocio, Andrea Ferrero, Esa Jokivuolle and Kim Ristolainen).

Research papers published under the BOFIT Policy Brief series and the English-language BOFIT Discussion Paper series examined, among other things, the relationship between elections and bank licence withdrawals in Russia (Zuzana Fungáčová, Alexei Karas, Laura Solanko and Laurent Weill) and Russia’s government budgets (Vesa Korhonen).

A number of the research papers that were published in English under the BOFIT Policy Brief series covered the various effects of economic sanctions and Russia’s war in Ukraine. The topics discussed included Russia’s economic integration with the rest of the world, the impact of trade sanctions in Russian production and Russia’s technology imports from Asia.

Publications in the BoF Economics Review series in 2022

The research contributions published under the BoF Economics Review series covered topics such as the effects of age and cohort and of low interest rates on saving, the slowing pace of growth in Finnish exports, forecasting of household loan stocks, optimal bank capital requirements and restrictions on capital flows.

Bank of Finland’s peer-reviewed research articles in international journals in 2022

High-quality research increases the Bank of Finland’s impact and the interest shown towards it as a potential partner, both in Finland and internationally. Quality is measured by the number of research contributions published in recognised peer-reviewed economics and finance journals.

In addition to the previously mentioned article published in Review of Economic Studies, below are further examples of the Bank’s peer-reviewed research articles which were published in English in international journals in 2022.

Joseba Martinez, Thomas Philippon and Markus Sihvonen’s article entitled ‘Does a currency union need a capital market union’ was published in the Journal of International Economics.

Juha Kilponen, Jouko Vilmunen and Oskari Vähämaa’s article ‘Revisiting intertemporal elasticity of substitution in a sticky price model’ was published in the Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control.

Claudio Borio, Piti Disyatat, Mikael Juselius and Phurichai Rungcharoenkitkul’s article ‘Why So Low for So Long? A Long-Term View of Real Interest Rates’ was published in the International Journal of Central Banking.

Denis Davydov, Jukka Sihvonen and Laura Solanko’s article ‘Who cares about sanctions? Observations from annual reports of European firms’ was published in Post-Soviet Affairs. The article analysed the impact of sanctions on European firms.

Satu Nurmi, Juuso Vanhala and Matti Virén’s article on zombie firms and entitled ‘Are zombies for real? Evidence from zombie dynamics’ was published in the International Journal of Industrial Organization.

Zuzana Fungáčová, Eeva Kerola and Laurent Weill’s article ‘Does bank efficiency affect the bank lending in China?’ was published in Emerging Markets Review. The article examined monetary policy transmission in China.

Presentation of Bank of Finland research to stakeholders

Bank of Finland research findings were presented in 2022 in a large number of Eurosystem network meetings and at international and domestic events.

Experts from the Bank of Finland presented, in English, a number of columns on the VoxEU platform and articles in the SUERF (European Money and Finance Forum) Policy Briefs series.

Bank of Finland’s domestic and international meetings in 2022

In August, the Bank of Finland organised a session on the theme ‘Financial literacy, household finance and beliefs’ in connection with the 2022 Annual Meeting of the Central Bank Research Association (CEBRA) in Barcelona. The Bank also co-organised a workshop entitled ‘Workshop on Banking and Institutions’ with the University of Strasbourg and Fordham University.

In September, the Bank of Finland co-hosted a hybrid conference entitled ‘Monetary Policy in the Post-Pandemic Era’ with the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).

In October, BOFIT co-organised an international conference entitled ‘Debt and Innovative Finance in Developing Countries’ with the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER).

The Bank of Finland also organised a large number of short research seminars in 2022. These seminars were predominantly held in hybrid format.



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Bank of Finland’s international cooperation in 2022