Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Reimagining monetary policy as a federal project

Project description

Federalising monetary policy

Central banks typically set a single interest rate that applies uniformly across their jurisdiction, which can result in suboptimal monetary policy in regions with diverse economic characteristics. Funded by the European Research Council, the FEDMONEY project will investigate the hypothesis that a federalised monetary policy, based on federal central banking structures, could modulate monetary policy differently in economically heterogeneous regions. The project will conduct a systematic legal and economic analysis of monetary federalism and explore its untold legal history in the United States and Europe. It will also consider the constitutional theories of federalism in both jurisdictions, as well as the role of decentralisation of monetary policy in the history of economic thought, to provide a comprehensive understanding of the potential benefits and challenges of a federalised monetary policy.

Objective

Monetary policy suffers from a one size fits all problem. Central banks typically determine monetary policy by setting a headline interest rate uniformly across their jurisdiction. Yet, in large jurisdictions, the optimal monetary policy on average tends to be suboptimal for economically heterogeneous regions. Outside the realm of monetary policy, a solution to this type of governance problem is widely accepted: federalism. But the state of the art has not analyzed federalism as a paradigm of monetary governance. This is curious especially because it is not uncommon for central banks to be structured institutionally according to federalist principles: split into a central headquarters and decentralized branches. Yet even then monetary policy is determined centrally and uniformly across central bank jurisdictions. FEDMONEYs research hypothesis is that it is desirable to federalize monetary policy by taking advantage of federal central banking structures to modulate monetary policy differently across economically heterogeneous regions. Its central aim is to develop a systematic legal and economic analysis of monetary federalism, which we currently lack. FEDMONEY seeks to verify its research hypothesis by writing the untold legal history of monetary federalism in the United States and Europe. It will contextualize that history in light of constitutional theories of federalism in both jurisdictions, as well as the intellectual history of economic thought. The project is groundbreaking in that it opens up new horizons for research in law, economics and beyond, and creates a powerful new tool for central banks to shape economic growth and development. FEDMONEY is urgent because central banks rediscovered monetary federalism in their responses to the past decade of economic crisis, but lack a theoretical framework grounded in law and economics to assess its costs and benefits. Absent such a framework, interest in monetary federalism is likely to fade soon.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2022-STG

See all projects funded under this call

Host institution

UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 499 199,00
Address
PLACE DE L UNIVERSITE 1
1348 LOUVAIN LA NEUVE
Belgium

See on map

Region
Région wallonne Prov. Brabant Wallon Arr. Nivelles
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 499 199,00

Beneficiaries (1)

My booklet 0 0