The Bundesbank’s Research Centre has published a new research programme, covering the key topics of ongoing and planned research activities in the areas of monetary policy, financial stability and banking supervision. These research topics chiefly reflect the major challenges facing the Bundesbank in these areas at present.

Three research clusters in three areas

The first of the three research areas deals with monetary policy in the euro area, which "continues to be shaped by the massive interventions in response to the financial and economic crisis", as it says in the programme. Researchers examine in detail inflation expectations, monetary policy transmission and monetary policy design, including, for example, the debate about the optimal inflation target.

The second area of research looks at the impact of heterogeneities on an integrated financial community in light of ongoing growth in world trade, rising global investment and cross-border capital flows. Its focus is on whether and how problems affect the financial markets of individual countries as a result of their economic interconnectedness with other financial markets. The Bundesbank is specifically investigating international financial activity, differences in household saving and consumption behaviour in euro area countries and the institutional design of the euro area.

The third research topic covers the challenges for banking supervision and financial stability in a financial system setting that is undergoing change. While new frame-works and institutions have emerged in banking supervision and regulation following the financial crisis, the structure of the banking sector is changing owing to new technologies and business models. In this connection, academics are researching topics such as financial intermediation and risk-taking, market microstructure, asset pricing and financial linkages, as well as the design and evaluation of micro- and macroprudential regulation.

New: interactive programme outline

For the first time, the Bundesbank website is also providing a visual outline of the current research programme as well as the usual downloadable text. This outline in-cludes a depiction of the research areas and information on individual research pro-jects at various levels.