Bank of Lithuania

The Center for Excellence in Finance and Economic Research (CEFER) is an independent structural unit of the Bank of Lithuania, whose academic partners are Vilnius University and Kaunas University of Technology. The mission of CEFER:

  • enhance the quality of economics education in Lithuania;
  • promote high-level discussions on topical academic issues in economics and finance;
  • educate the public.

CEFER conducts a wide range of research in economics and finance that contributes to the quality of decision-making necessary for the Bank of Lithuania's core functions and publishes its outcomes in international scientific journals of the highest repute.

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Main goals

CEFER aims to:

  • improve the quality of economics and finance education in Lithuania;
  • to promote high-level debate on relevant academic issues in economics and finance;
  • organise seminars, conferences, lectures, trainings and invited lecture series;
  • educate the public;
  • strengthen the image of the Bank of Lithuania as a center of excellence in finance and economics;
  • to research a wide range of economic and financial issues, contributing to quality decision-making necessary for the Bank of Lithuania's core functions, and to publish them in international research journals of the highest repute.

Research priorities

Economists at CEFER conduct academic research and publish their papers in well-reputed scientific journals. Main research topics include the following:

  • Quantitative macroeconomics;
  • Household finance;
  • International trade;
  • International macroeconomics;
  • Finance;
  • Labour economics;
  • Macrofinance;
  • Real Estate Economics.

Center activities

You can learn more about past and upcoming events of the Bank of Lithuania here.


External Evaluation Report of CEFER

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The full list of researchers at the Bank of Lithuania is available here

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Past conferences

1st Baltic Central Bank Invited Lectures Series

1st Baltic Central Bank Invited Lectures Series took place on 17-19 May 2023 in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Invited lecturer: Elhanan Helpman, Galen L. Stone Professor of International Trade at Harvard University. The lecture’s topic: “Frontiers of International Trade”.

More information is available here.

Conference "New Dimensions of Monetary Policy"

A conference organized jointly by the National Bank of Poland (NBP), the Central Bank Research Association (CEBRA), the Bank of Lithuania and the Research Centre. Conference took place on 22-23 September 2022. 

Keynote speakers: Alberto Cavallo (Harvard Business School) and Ricardo Reis (London School of Economics and Political Science).

More information here.

Baltic Economic Conference 2022

Keynote speaker: Kaivan Munshi, Professor of Economics at Yale University. He is one of the leading experts in development economics, with a focus on the role of social institutions and their interaction with economic activity in the development phase of an economy. Conference took place on 27-28 June 2022. 

More information here.

2nd Bank of Lithuania Invited Lecture Series

2nd Bank of Lithuania Invited Lecture Series took place on 14-16 September 2022 in Vilnius, Lithuania.:

Invited lecturer: Kurt Mitman (Institute for International  Economic Studies (IIES)). The lecture’s topic: “Frontiers of Research on Inequality and the Macroeconomy: Facts, Methods and Policy Implications”.

More information is available here.

Virtual conference “Adjustments in and to an Uncertain World”

Bank of Lithuania and CEFER together with National Bank of Poland (NBP), Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and Central Bank Research Association (CEBRA) organized conference “Adjustments in and to an Uncertain World”. Conference took place on 24-25 September 2020.

Keynote speakers: Jennifer La’O (Columbia University and FED Minneapolis), Kalina Manova (University College London), Beata Javorcik (Oxford University and EBRD).

More information is available here.

1st Bank of Lithuania Invited Lecture Series

Annual invitation extended to a leading researcher who gives lectures over two days on the frontier of that field, followed by a small research workshop. The Inaugural Bank of Lithuania invited lecture series took place on 27-29 November 2019 in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Invited lecturer: Klaus Adam (University of Oxford). His course “Learning and Expectations Formation in Macroeconomics and Finance" focused on the implication of non-rational expectations assumption for the role of monetary policy. 

More information is available here.

25th International Panel Data Conference

The Bank of Lithuania and its Center for Excellence in Finance and Economic Research (CEFER) were involved in the organisation of the 25th International Panel Data Conference, which took place on 4-5 July 2019 in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The keynote speakers were Manuel Arellano (CEMFI), Peter Egger (ETH Zurich), Ivan Fernandez-Val (Boston University) and Bo Honore (Princeton University).

For more information, visit the conference website

First international Baltic Economics Conference

The Inaugural Baltic Economic Conference took place on 11-12 June 2018 in Vilnius, Lithuania. 

The keynote speaker of the first conference was Hashem Pesaran, professor of the University of Cambridge and the University of Southern California, who contributed to a wide range of topics on economics and econometrics, including a global economic model revealing how economic crises spread among countries.

For more information, visit the conference website.

Annual Lithuanian Conference on Economic Research

This one-day conference takes place every year right after Christmas and gives a forum for Lithuanian Economists and their colleagues to meet each other and discuss their recent research.

For more information, visit the conference website


Research papers

2023:

Garcia-Louzao, J., & Tarasonis, L. (2023). Wage and employment impact of minimum wage: evidence from Lithuania. Journal of Comparative Economics, 51(2), 592-609.

Jakučionytė, E., & Singh, S. (2023). Emergence of subprime lending in minority neighborhoods. Real Estate Economics, June 2023.

Oh, F. D., & Park, J. (2023). A large creditor in contagious liquidity crises. Journal of Banking & Finance, 146, January 2023.

2022:

Jakučionytė, E., & Singh, S. (2022). Bowling alone, buying alone: The decline of co-borrowers in the US mortgage market. Journal of Housing Economics, 58(Part B), December 2022.

Hemingway, B. (2022). Banking regulation and collateral screening in a model of information asymmetry. Journal of Financial Services Research, 61, 367-405, May 2022.

2021:

Ding, Z. (2021). Firm heterogeneity, variable markups, and multinational production: A review from trade policy perspective. Journal of Economic Surveys, 36(5), 1311-1357, December 2021.

Lastauskas, P. (2021). Lockdown, employment adjustment, and financial frictions. Small Business Economics, June 2021.

Norkutė, M., Westerlund, J. (2021). The factor analytical approach in near unit root interactive effects panels. Journal of Econometrics, 221(2), 569-590, April 2021.

Norkutė, M., Sarafidis, V., Yamagata, T., & Cui, G. (2021). Instrumental variable estimation of dynamic linear panel data models with defactored regressors and a multifactor error structure. Journal of Econometrics, 220(2), 416-446, February 2021.

Jakučionytė, E., & van Wijnbergen, S. (2021). The macroeconomics of carry trade gone wrong: Corporate and consumer losses in Emerging Europe. Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, December 2021.

Donadelli, M., & Grüning, P. (2021). Innovation dynamics and fiscal policy: Implications for growth, asset prices, and welfare. The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, 57, July 2021.

2020:

Grüning, P., Curatola, G., & Donadelli, M. (2020). Technology trade with asymmetric tax regimes and heterogeneous labour markets: Implications for macro quantities and asset prices. International Journal of Finance & Economics, 2020.

Lastauskas, P., & Stakėnas, J. (2020). Labor market reforms and the monetary policy environment. European Economic Review, 128, 103509, September 2020.

Lastauskas, P., & Stakėnas, J. (2020). Labour market institutions in open economy: Sectoral reallocations, aggregate adjustments and spillovers. Review of International Economics, 28(3), 814-845, August 2020.

Singh, S., & Stoltenberg, C. (2020). Consumption insurance with advance information. Quantitative Economics, 11(2), 671-711, May 2020.

2019:

Lastauskas, P. (2019). Whether and how does convergence between EU and Lithuania take place?. In Lietuvos narystė Europos Sąjungoje: atskaitos taškai ir judėjimo kryptys (pp. 156). ISBN: 9786098163179, 2019.

2018:

Constantinescu, M., & Lastauskas, P. (2018). The knotty interplay between credit and housing. The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 70, 241-266, November 2018.

Lastauskas, P., & Stakėnas, J. (2018). Openness and structural labour market reforms: Ex-ante counterfactuals. Contemporary Economic Policy, 36(4), 723-757, October 2018.

Grüning, P. (2018). Heterogeneity in the internationalization of R&D: Implications for anomalies in finance and macroeconomics. Finance Research Letters, 26, 132-138, September 2018.

Singh, S., & Beetsma, R. (2018). Optimal monetary policy under sectoral interconnections. Netherlands Economic Review (De Economist).

Lastauskas, P., & Stakėnas, J. (2018). Structural labour market reforms in the EU-15: Single-country vs. coordinated counterfactuals. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 44, 88-99, March 2018.


CEFER Insights

CEFER insights provides a glimpse of the type of work we are doing at CEFER, how we are developing international research networks, and engaging Lithuanian universities in educational and research activities.


CEFER Challenge

The CEFER Challenge, inspired by the Federal Reserve Challenge in the US, is an annual thematic team competition for undergraduate and/or master level students from various academic disciplines. Students are encouraged to learn and think outside the box about the issues related to the euro area macroeconomy, the financial system, and the implementation of monetary policy. To learn more about CEFER Challenge click here


Jeronimas Stroinovskis Lectures Series

The Jeronimas Stroinovskis Lectures was established by the Bank of Lithuania in 2022 in memory of Jeronimas Stroinovskis, rector of Vilnius University of 1799–1806. He is the pioneer of political economy, a science that was then just emerging in the world. The establishment of these lectures institutionalised the practice of inviting a distinguished economist, generally from outside Lithuania, to give guest lectures during the school year. The Stroinovskis Lectures have twin aims: to present and elucidate research developments in Economics to a broad audience, while simultaneously educating and inspiring students to study Economics.

Past speakers:

2023: Julien Martin (University of Quebec at Montreal and CEPR) gave a lecture on "Large Firms in the Global Economy" (751.4 KB download icon). Media summary.

2022: Andrei Zlate (Federal Reserve Board) gave a lecture on "Macroeconomic Implications of Offshoring, Labor Migration, Remittances, and Training" (2.6 MB download icon). Media summary.


CEFER/KTU/VU Workshop

CEFER/KTU/VU workshop serves as a forum for researchers from Kaunas Technology University, Vilnius University and Bank of Lithuania CEFER department to present their work and receive feedback from their peers. It also provides an opportunity for networking among the institutions and contributes to fostering a positive research culture in Lithuania.

Past workshops:

2023: Program can be found here

2022: Program can be found here

2021: Program can be found here

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Upcoming events

Newsletter

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Data initiative

To learn more about databases developed by Bank of Lithuania researchers click here.


Internship at CEFER

The CEFER internship programme aims to guide interns through the process of writing academic research papers in the field of economics. At CEFER our research focuses on a diverse range of topics, including macro-finance, banking and international economics. CEFER invites students studying in Lithuania and abroad to apply for an internship position.

Eligible candidates

  • Master’s degree students or having at least a Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Statistics, Mathematics, Finance or another related field
  • Ambitious and willing to contribute to one or several CEFER research projects
  • Excellent written and verbal skills in English

Considered advantages

  • Knowledge of one or several statistical software (e.g. R, Matlab, Eviews, Stata)
  • Enrolment in a PhD programme

Internship-related tasks will depend on the intern’s level of experience, education and will be assigned and discussed at the start of the programme.

How to apply

In order to apply, please send your application (in English) by email to tl.bl@sbojrefec with the following attachments:

  1. CV
  2. Motivational letter
  3. Academic statement/record of courses you have passed and your average grade.
  4. Please provide the contacts of a university professor/course instructor willing to give their recommendation regarding your internship.
  5. Area or topic you wish to concentrate on during the internship, with a detailed description and a short description of research papers (including term papers, Bachelor’s or Master’s thesis), should you have already written any.

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis and usually last for up to two months.


Other activities

Awards

In order to encourage high-quality research in Lithuania, CEFER and the Bank of Lithuania grant two awards annually for scientific activities: the Vladas Jurgutis Award (EUR 10 thousand) and the Bank of Lithuania Award for Dissertation in the Field of Economics (EUR 5 thousand).

  • The Vladas Jurgutis Award pays tribute to Prof. Vladas Jurgutis, the first Governor of the Bank of Lithuania, and his merits to banking in Lithuania. The Award is granted for significant scientific research works of Lithuanian economists or foreign economists linked with Lithuanian education institutions carried out within the last five years – published scientific papers, monographs or books. Priority is given to the following subjects: activities of the central bank, monetary policy, macroprudential policy, payments and settlements, investment and other subjects related to the activities of the Bank of Lithuania.
  • The Bank of Lithuania Award for Dissertation in the Field of Economics is granted to honour the authors of the best dissertations in economics or related fields, defended over the last two years until August 1 of the current year. Priority is given to the following subjects: activities of the central bank, monetary policy, macroprudential policy, payments and settlements, investment, etc.

For more information on past awards and details on how to apply, click here

Editorial activities

CEFER researchers are involved in editing and refereeing peer-reviewed academic journals such as the Baltic Economic Journal.

Networks

CEFER is part of NERO, a network of National Economic Research Organisations.


Partners

CEFER is proud to have the following partners:

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Last update: 16-04-2024