ECB Forum on Central Banking 2025

Opening reception and dinner

Dinner hosted by the Executive Board of the European Central Bank

Introductory speech

Christine Lagarde, President, European Central Bank

Welcome and introduction

Session 1: Macroeconomic implications of changes in euro area labour markets

Chair: Luis de Guindos, Vice-President, European Central Bank

Paper: “Eurosclerosis at 40: labor market institutions, dynamism, and European competitiveness”

Author: Benjamin Schoefer, Associate Professor, University of California, Berkeley

Discussant: Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln, President, WZB Berlin, and Professor, Goethe University Frankfurt 
Discussion of “Eurosclerosis at 40: labour market institutions, dynamism, and European competitiveness”

Session 2: Monetary transmission through households, consumption and savings

Chair: Frank Elderson, Member of the Executive Board and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board, European Central Bank

Paper: “Discretionary spending is the cycle, and why it matters for monetary policy”

Author: Paolo Surico, Professor, London Business School 
(together with Michele Andreolli, Assistant Professor, Boston College, Natalie Rickard, London Business School, and Chiara Vergeat, London Business School)

Discussant: María Teresa Valderrama, Head of the Monetary Policy Section, Oesterreichische Nationalbank
Discussion of “Discretionary spending is the cycle, and why it matters for monetary policy”

Coffee break and poster session for the Young Economist Prize

Young Economist Prize

Introduction of the finalists – speed presentations on the stage

Panel 1: Cross-country heterogeneity in the euro area and implications for monetary policy

Chair: Isabel Schnabel, Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank

• Agnès Bénassy-Quéré, Second Deputy Governor, Banque de France
  Paper: "Heterogeneity in the euro area and the transmission of monetary policy"
• Piet Haines Christiansen, Director, Danske Bank
  Paper: "One size... fits some"
• Luca Fornaro, Senior Researcher, CREI, and Adjunct Professor, Universitat Pompeu Fabra
  Paper: "Perspectives on Public Debt and Productivity Growth in the Euro Area"
• Refet Gürkaynak, Professor, Bilkent University

Lunch

Policy panel

• Andrew Bailey, Governor, Bank of England
• Christine Lagarde, President, European Central Bank
• Jerome Powell, Chair, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
• Chang Yong Rhee, Governor, Bank of Korea
• Kazuo Ueda, Governor, Bank of Japan

Moderator: Francine Lacqua, Anchor and Editor-at-large, Bloomberg Television

End of day 1

Group photo (all participants)

Informal dinner hosted by the Executive Board of the European Central Bank

Poster session for the Young Economist Prize
(stands in the foyer)

Welcome and introduction

Session 3: Non-bank financial intermediaries, liquidity and their prudential treatment

Chair: Luis de Guindos, Vice-President, European Central Bank

Paper: “Growth of non-bank financial intermediaries, monetary policy, and financial stability”

Author: Loriana Pelizzon, Deputy Scientific Director, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE and Professor, Goethe University Frankfurt and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
(together with Riccardo Mattiello, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and Warwick University, and Jonas Schlegel, Financial Economist, SAFE Policy Center)

Discussant: Nicola Cetorelli, Financial Research Advisor and Head of Financial Intermediation, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Discussion of “Growth of non-bank financial intermediaries, monetary policy, and financial stability”

Session 4: New industrial developments and the evolving architecture of international trade

Chair: Piero Cipollone, Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank

Paper: “Recent evolutions in the global trade system: from integration to strategic realignment”

Author: Ana Maria Santacreu, Economic Policy Advisor, Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis
(together with Florencia Airaudo, Economist, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, François de Soyres, Section Chief, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and Alexandre Gaillard, Assistant Professor, Brown University)

Discussant: Diego Comin, Professor, Dartmouth College
Discussion of “Recent evolutions in the global trade system”

Coffee break

Panel 2: Central bank communication: current challenges

Chair: Philip R. Lane, Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank

• Alessandra Galloni, Editor-in-Chief, Reuters
  Paper: "Navigating Credibility and Technology: How Reuters Meets the Challenges of Modern News Reporting"
• Carolin Pflueger, Associate Professor, University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy
  Paper: "Perceptions about Monetary Policy in 2025"
• Anna Seim, Deputy Governor, Sveriges Riksbank
  Paper: "The Role of Alternative Scenarios in Monetary Policy Communication"
• Alan Taylor, Professor, Columbia University and external member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England
  Paper: "Does r* predict policy rates?"

Lunch

A conversation about tapping Europe’s growth potential

• Philippe Aghion, Professor, Collège de France and London School of Economics
• Lars Feld, Professor, University of Freiburg, and Director of the Walter Eucken Institute

Award ceremony for the Young Economist Prize

Closing remarks

Christine Lagarde, President, European Central Bank

Reception and dinner hosted by the Banco de Portugal
The bus to the dinner venue departs at 18:00.