The Bank of Russia and the Russian Journal of Money and Finance invite students and PhD fellows to submit papers for the 2021 Economic Research Competition

The Russian Journal of Money and Finance will consider the winners’ papers for publication.

The competition winners will be given the floor to present their papers at the online research seminar of the Bank of Russia in the beginning of October 2021.

Submission topics

• Central bank’s policy
• Inflation
• Financial stability
• Banking
• Data analysis: methodology and results

Key requirements for the research

• Applied research

With either a direct result (forecast, macroeconomic analysis model) or an indirect result (testing of economic hypotheses that are important for Central Bank policy).

• Meeting academic criteria

The research should include: clear objectives; a literature review and description of the study’s original contribution; a description of the mathematic or econometric model used and the decision quality criteria for the objective set by the author; a description of the statistical data used; a description of the results and a robustness check; and applied conclusions.

The study should have been carried out no earlier than 2019.

When carrying out the research, the author should have possessed a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, or else been working towards a PhD.

How to apply

Please, submit to journal@mail.cbr.ru the following:

• Full text of a paper in Russian or English, putting “Application for 2021 Bank of Russia Research Competition for students and Phd fellows” in the subject line;
• Give your full name, course of study, and educational institution;
• A cover letter, containing the research objective, the contribution made by the authors (the originality of the results when compared against specific existing studies), results, and conclusions.

Papers are accepted in PDF format (file size not more than 5 MB).

The closing date for submission is 19 July 2021.

Competition jury

• Editors and the Editorial Board of the Russian Journal of Money and Finance;
• Researchers from the Research and Forecasting Department, the Monetary Policy Department, and the Financial Stability Department of the Bank of Russia.

The winners will be announced on 20 September 2021.

Possible research topics
(the list is not exhaustive)

• Central bank’s policy

Types of market imperfections defying central bank’s policy. Policy goals and tools. Interaction and coordination of monetary, prudential, and macroprudential policies. Interaction of monetary and fiscal policies.

Macroeconomic models and their applications in central banking. General equilibrium models of the Russian economy.

The impact of unobservable variables and their estimates on monetary policy (potential level/GDP growth, equilibrium/neutral interest rate, NAIRU).

Monetary policy under model/scenario uncertainty.

Effectiveness of central banks’ communication policies and optimal information transparency.

The international monetary system and its implications for monetary policy in emerging markets.

• Inflation

Measuring inflation. The nature of inflation (monetary/non-monetary inflation). The Phillips curve and the labour market.

Changes in relative prices and exchange rate pass-through to prices. Measuring underlying/monetary/pure inflation. Inflation forecasting.

Production costs, markups, and producer/seller competition as inflation drivers. The microeconomics of inflation. Microdata-based/big data-based inflation analysis and forecasting.

External and internal drivers of inflation. Financial drivers of inflation. Inflation expectations and their role in understanding/forecasting inflation. Drivers of inflation expectations.

• Financial stability
  

Indicators of financial stability, systemic risk and contagion effects, and their forecasting.

Global finance and systemic risks. Imbalances and capital flows. The global financial cycle and its effect on small open economies. The interrelation of the business and credit cycle.

The exchange rate as a shock absorber. Dollarization. External debt. Choosing the nominal currency of trade contracts.

Oil price movements and their effect on Russia’s price and financial stability.

The microeconomics of financial stability: the causes of debt overload and currency mismatches in balance sheets. Microeconomic decisions of households and their effect on financial stability.

Financial stability risks on industrial and regional levels.

Fiscal policy as a financial stability driver.

The interrelation of monetary and macroprudential policies. Monetary policy: 'Dilemma not Trilemma'. Optimal monetary and macroprudential policy.

Moral hazard and adverse selection in macroprudential policy.

The future of finance and financial stability implications (fintech and cryptocurrencies). Central bank digital currency (CBDC).

New data and financial stability research methods.

• Banking

Bank business models: challenges and prospects.

Optimal competition in the banking sector: major and minor banks.

Microeconomic research on bank-level data.

Federal and regional banks.

Forecasting banks’ financial position.

• Data analysis: methodology and results

Non-linear econometric models.

Big data analysis.

Application of machine learning.