Moschella’s research addresses questions related to the politics behind economic and financial decisions, both at the national and the international level. She is also interested in the relationship between politics and technocracy/expertise and have been studying this relationship in international and European bodies like the IMF and the ECB and public institutions like central banks.
My current research develops these questions across three connected areas: industrial policy and the changing regulatory state, European political economy, and central banking.
1. Industrial Policy & the Regulatory State
I am currently working on the resurgence of industrial policy and the challenges it poses to the regulatory state. I am particularly interested in how regulation is moving from correcting markets to shaping markets and steering structural transformation, and in the implications of this shift for expertise, state capacity and democratic accountability.
Open-access publications
- “The New Politics of EU Industrial Policy: From the Regulatory State to a Transformational State”, with Donato Di Carlo and Kathleen R. McNamara, Governance (2026).
- “A Strong Regulator? The EU’s Uneven Regulatory Capacity in Green Industrial Policy”, with Fabio Bulfone and Joan Miró, Politics and Governance (2026).
- “What’s in a Polity? Political Institutions and Varieties of Economic Interventionism in the United States and the European Union”, with Donato Di Carlo and Lorenzo Moretti, Governance (2025).
- “Much More Than a Report: The Search for Europe’s New Political Identity and the Politics of Competitiveness”, with Lucia Quaglia, JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies (2025).
2. EU Political Economy
My research on European political economy examines how the EU is adapting its economic model to new geopolitical, technological and social pressures. I am particularly interested in the changing boundaries between markets and public authority, the emergence of new forms of economic intervention, and the political and institutional tensions generated by Europe’s pursuit of resilience, competitiveness and structural transformation.
I develop this research agenda in part through EUFutures, the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence that I direct at the University of Bologna. EUFutures brings together research on industrial policy, labour markets, skills, social policy and European economic governance to investigate the foundations of a sustainable, inclusive and resilient European growth model.
3. Central Banking
My research examines the politics of central banking, with particular attention to how central banks change their policies and institutional roles, navigate political pressures and demands for accountability, and respond to public contestation
My work develops these questions across three areas:
Policy and institutional change
How and why do central banks depart from established policy orthodoxies, and what explains changes in their mandates, instruments and policy frameworks?
Selected publications:
- Unexpected Revolutionaries: How Central Banks Made and Unmade Economic Orthodoxy (Cornell University Press, 2024)
- “The Government Bond Buying Programmes of the European Central Bank: An Analysis of their Policy Settings” (with Domenico Lombardi, Journal of European Public Policy, 2016)
- “Interpreting Spillovers: The ECB, Fed Interest Rate Hikes, and the Persistence of Dollar Dominance” (with Palma Polyak, New Political Economy, 2026)
Politics, independence and accountability
How independent are central banks in practice? My research examines the political pressures surrounding monetary policy, relations between central banks and elected officials, and the institutional mechanisms through which central bankers are held accountable.
Selected publications:
- “Political Voice on Monetary Policy: Evidence from the Parliamentary Hearings of the European Central Bank” (with Ferrara, Masciandaro & Romelli, European Journal of Political Economy, 2021)
- “What Do Politicians Think of Technocratic Institutions? Attitudes in the European Parliament Towards the European Central Bank” (with Ferrara, Masciandaro & Romelli, Journal of Common Market Studies, 2024)
- “Does Politics Drive Conflict in Central Banks’ Committees? Lifting the Veil on the European Central Bank Consensus” (with Nicola M. Diodati, European Union Politics, 2020)
Reputation, communication and public contestation
How do central banks maintain authority when their decisions become politically contested? This research examines communication and reputation as tools through which central banks respond to uncertainty, criticism and changing public expectations.
Selected publications:
- “Central Banks’ Communication as Reputation Management: How the Fed Talks under Uncertainty” (with Luca Pinto, 2019)
- “Let’s Speak More? How the ECB Responds to Public Contestation” (with Luca Pinto & Nicola Martocchia Diodati, Journal of European Public Policy, 2020)
- “To Whom Do Central Banks Listen? Reputation, Public Contestation, and the Strategic Use of Economic Imaginaries” (in Picking Winners: Citizenship, Central Banks, and Consumer Finance, Oxford University Press, 2026)
