Assessment of macroprudential strategy documents: Are they ready for the challenges ahead?

Abstract

Macroprudential policy is still a relatively new policy area (“more art than science”). Unlike monetary policy, it still does not have any tested and robust strategies to follow. Using a novel strategy index, we explore and critically review macroprudential strategy documents published in 30 countries in 2014–2023. The overall results point to fairly high quality of strategies, with low level of heterogeneity in the total score. Most strategy documents were published by central banks responsible for macroprudential policy. The score for strategies in European Union (EU) countries is higher and more homogenous than in non-EU countries. Elements least frequently included in the strategies include challenges for macroprudential policy (like cyber or climate risks) and its interactions with other policy areas. Macroprudential strategies were mostly issued after the credit boom. The results provide relevant policy implications on future revisions of this kind of document.