Valuable insight will lead to improvements

Date 25/10/2016

During a few days in May this year, Greg Udell, Indiana University, Frank Smets, European Central Bank, Jonathan Wright, Johns Hopkins University and Rodney Ramcharan, University of Southern California visited the Riksbank. Their task was to evaluate the productivity of the Research Division, with regard to providing good policy support for the analysis work at the Riksbank and to the quality of the research in an international context.

Former Head of Research and now acting Head of the Research Division Tor Jacobson, why is the Riksbank investing in this kind of evaluation?

"We think that it's extremely valuable to have a committee of renowned academic scholars with extensive central bank research experience scrutinise the activities of the Research Division in detail. This type of detailed insight is necessary to produce well-founded suggestions for improvement. We therefore believe that less frequent, but more thorough, evaluations are more productive than the reverse."

During the summer, a written report of the group's analysis and conclusions was compiled. In early October, Greg Udell presented this report at a seminar for interested employees and managers at the Riksbank.

What is your immediate take on the report?

"Overall, the report conveys a positive appraisal of the Research Division. However, it also identifies a number of potential measures that could elevate the Research Division's efficiency even further with regard to research and policy support work. This applies in particular to the important integration of research and policy. In the coming months, we will carefully ponder the report and form an action plan that prioritises among these potential measures.