On 1 July 2003 the Executive Board of the ECB decided, on a proposal from the Directorate General Research, to request an evaluation of the economic research activities at the ECB. Three independent external experts - Marvin Goodfriend, Reiner Kφnig and Rafael Repullo - were invited to act as evaluators and were given specific Terms of Reference.

Their final report, which was delivered on 20 February 2004, is being released today.

The report gives a balanced account of achievements since the establishment of the ECB in 1998. On the whole, the report provides a positive assessment of the research conducted at the ECB on several criteria: scientific quality and value added; relevance for the conduct of monetary policy and for the other tasks and functions of the ECB; and influence on the academic community and on other policy-making institutions.

As requested in their Terms of Reference, the evaluators also made a number of useful recommendations in five areas: i) incentives for staff to conduct high-quality research; ii) long-term management of human capital; iii) coverage and coordination of research activities in the different business areas of the ECB; iv) research support; and v) communication and dissemination of research.

Download the Report.