RESEARCH WORKSHOP 2021

FSC Research Workshop 2021
19 Nov. 2021  |  13:00 – 16:45 h  |  online

Call for Policy Contribution Proposals 2021   –   Deadline: 8 July

Junior and senior scientists and scholars – including PhD candidates, early stage and PhD researchers – in the disciplines of economics, law, finance, banking and political economy as well as researchers from public authorities, central banks, institutions and civil organisations were invited to submit policy contribution proposals / sketches and draft contributions on issues related to the conference topics and aspects thereof.

→ I:   Proposal deadline for policy contribution submissions: 8 July 2021

→ II:   Review of proposals and information on acceptances: by 22 July 2021

→ III:   Submission deadline for drafted contributions: 24 September 2021

I:   submission of proposals

For topical reasons the thematic focus in 2021 was set on:

• Dimensions and impact of Covid-19 effects on financial stability, financial institutions and the Euro area;
• Climate change entrenched financial risks, implications for banks and the transition to a low-carbon economy;
• The ECB’s new strategy, the reassessment of roles and the scope of its mandate in the era of climate change;
• Review of the EU’s crisis management and deposit insurance framework and enhancement of the current toolset.

Proposals for policy contribution subjects (research sketches) could address various aspects of the above four thematic clusters (see below various aspect issues thereof). Considerations about interconnections between above bullets 1. and 4. as well as 2. and 3. were appreciated.

Proposals may relate to a broad bundle of terms and notions as regards the above thematic clusters, and we are also open to unconventional ideas. We welcome in particular preliminary and forward looking contribution proposals suggesting options, recommendations and/or conclusions on the basis of a clear analysis and reasoning as well as personal assessments and viewpoints at a draft stage to be discussed in-depth at the workshop.

Following terms and notions present for each cluster some first thematic suggestions to identify either specific aspects and research questions or reasonably combined aspects which could be dealt with:

1. Implications of the Covid-19 crisis on financial stability, financial institutions and Euro area
   through which channels systematic risks might be triggered; how would this impact the financial sector; effects on NPL-rates, credit and lending; alleviations for creditors and easing for banks; effects of temporary banks’ capital reliefs; long-term effects on financial stability, debt and resilience; implications for financial regulation and supervision; Euro area member states fiscal anti-crisis programmes; escalating debt levels and rising sovereign exposures; redistributive effects (inequality issue).
2. Effects of climate change risks on the financial system and transition to a low-carbon economy
   how to manage climate related risks; how to incentivise authorities and institutions to act for the necessary transitions; taxonomy and ESG factors; question of stricter guidance by supervisory authorities as regards bank business modells; binding rules versus guidelines and principles in dealing with climate risks; role of banks, credit and lending in achieving sustainable finance goals; climate change induced systemic risks as well as their implications for supervisiory interventions and financial markets policy considerations.
3. The ECB strategy review, new roles and the scope of its mandate in the era of climate change
   ECB’s climate change risk policies and strategy; role of central banks, central banks’ portfolios and liquidity investments; effects of initiatives such as NGFS as regards the transition to a low-carbon economy; question of central bank’s policy coordination to address climate change; trade-offs between monetary policy decisions and financial stability considerations; how to integrate climate change risks into central banks‘ financial stability monitoring.
4. Deficiencis in the EU’s crisis management and deposit insurance framework and their repair
   which reforms and regulations could improve the EU’s crisis management framework and enhance bank’s resilience on the backdrop of present and future challenges; addressing impediments and circumventions to orderly resolution in crisis times; which policies shall be followed and prioritised to avoid a renewed sovereign debt crisis in the Euro area and to mitigate the state-bank nexus; how to adopt Banking Union settings and missings to new assessments and considerations.

→  Policy contribution proposals / sketches to be emailed by Thursday, 8 July 2021 to: workshop@financial-stability.org

We do not expect written or finalized poliy contributions by this deadline, but a proposal with a clear subject outline of max. 1.500 words. All proposed research sketches and subject proposals will be reviewed and considered for drafting contributions, presentation at the workshop, discussion and publication.

II:   review of submissions and information on acceptance

→ We will inform all proposers by 22 July 2021 on acceptances and the further procedure.

III:   drafting workshop contributions

We ask to work out accepted research proposals and to draft the contributions until 24 September 2021. The contributions should be short and policy-oriented, and they do not have to follow any given specific scientific methodology or approach. More important are policy-relevance, comprehensibility as well as a clear and plausible structure. Emphasis lies on conclusions, practical relevance of results, ideally policy recommendations and input to both the scientific as well as the policy debate. Derivations of empirical results and model explaining should not be the focus, we rather recommend to eschew models and equations and to focus on the outcomes and policy implications. The policy contributions have to be finalised and send together with the presentation slides to the organiser by 24 September to give time for the review by the discussants before the workshop date.

→  Accepted proposals shall be worked out until fall and the drafted policy contributions together with the presentation slides have to be emailed by Friday 24 September 2021 to: workshop@financial-stability.org

IV:   presentation and discussion

Before presentation at the workshop each contribution shall be critically looked at by a discussant in fall. At the research workshop the contributions shall first be presented, then be discussed by the discussant and after debated with the audience. We envisage to hold the workshop on 17 or 19 Nov. in Berlin. In case Covid-19 and related measures do not allow, the workshop will be organised as an online event. After the workshop the contributions shall be published on our website, according to the preference of the presenter.

Important information on the purpose of the workshop and about the task:

We ask for policy contributions which is a difference to academic papers. The task is to draft a contribution in a non-technical wording and understandable for a wider public. We recommend to eschew models and equations, focusing instead on lines of thoughts, reasonings and conclusions or policy options and recommendations. We welcome viewpoints and opinions based on a thorough and thought out argumentation. Thus, the workshop is as well intended to bring researchers closer to policy debates. To sum up, the conributions should be brief and written in a nontechnical language, aimed at a broad audience interested in policy issues, presented and published to elicit comment and further policy debate.

As regards subjects and research questions of policy contributions there are no specifications or preferences from the organiser. Any specific aspect relating to the set thematic clusters and topics can be accepted. We do not see problems with potential thematic overlappings. In the contrary, it might be fruitful to have contributions on quite similar aspects for an enriching discussion.

There are no detailed specifications as regards format as well: just to draft and edit subject, reasoning and rationale in a clear and logical way, be precise and leave the unnecessary and redundant aside. Length: better short than lengthy; 5 to 8 pages would be best and appropriate, and we ask to not exceed the max. of 10 pages.

For each presenter there shall be a discussant, and we ask accepted presenters to be open to act as a discussant to another policy contribution. The focus shall be in our view on the plenary discussions with the audience. Our intention and aim is that all participants are learning from the workshop, gain new insights and get manyfold ideas for future work.

Questions to be directed to: workshop@financial-stability.org