Are Non-Euro Area EU Countries Importing Low Inflation from the Euro Area?
Are Non-Euro Area EU Countries Importing Low Inflation from the Euro Area?

Author: Mr.Plamen Iossifov

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2014-10-22

Total Pages: 34

ISBN-13: 1484300521

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The synchronized disinflation across Europe since end-2011 raises the question of whether non-euro area EU countries are affected by the undershooting of the euro area inflation target. To shed light on this issue, we estimate an open-economy, New Keynsian Phillips curve, in which we control for imported inflation. Regression results suggest that falling food and energy prices have been the main disinflationary driver. But low core inflation in the euro area has also had a clear and significant impact. Countries with more rigid exchange-rate regimes and higher share of foreign value added in domestic demand have been more affected. The scope for monetary response to low inflation in non-euro area EU countries depends on concerns about financial stability and unanchoring of inflationary expectations, as well as on exchange rate regime and capital flows dynamics.

Are Non-Euro Area EU Countries Importing Low Inflation from the Euro Area?
Are Non-Euro Area EU Countries Importing Low Inflation from the Euro Area?

Author: Mr.Plamen Iossifov

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2014-10-22

Total Pages: 34

ISBN-13: 1484389751

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The synchronized disinflation across Europe since end-2011 raises the question of whether non-euro area EU countries are affected by the undershooting of the euro area inflation target. To shed light on this issue, we estimate an open-economy, New Keynsian Phillips curve, in which we control for imported inflation. Regression results suggest that falling food and energy prices have been the main disinflationary driver. But low core inflation in the euro area has also had a clear and significant impact. Countries with more rigid exchange-rate regimes and higher share of foreign value added in domestic demand have been more affected. The scope for monetary response to low inflation in non-euro area EU countries depends on concerns about financial stability and unanchoring of inflationary expectations, as well as on exchange rate regime and capital flows dynamics.

Economic Convergence in the Euro Area: Coming Together or Drifting Apart?
Economic Convergence in the Euro Area: Coming Together or Drifting Apart?

Author: Mr.Jeffrey R. Franks

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2018-01-23

Total Pages: 47

ISBN-13: 1484338499

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We examine economic convergence among euro area countries on multiple dimensions. While there was nominal convergence of inflation and interest rates, real convergence of per capita income levels has not occurred among the original euro area members since the advent of the common currency. Income convergence stagnated in the early years of the common currency and has reversed in the wake of the global economic crisis. New euro area members, in contrast, have seen real income convergence. Business cycles became more synchronized, but the amplitude of those cycles diverged. Financial cycles showed a similar pattern: sychronizing more over time, but with divergent amplitudes. Income convergence requires reforms boosting productivity growth in lagging countries, while cyclical and financial convergence can be enhanced by measures to improve national and euro area fiscal policies, together with steps to deepen the single market.

Negative Interest Rate Policy (NIRP)
Negative Interest Rate Policy (NIRP)

Author: Andreas Jobst

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2016-08-10

Total Pages: 48

ISBN-13: 1475524471

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More than two years ago the European Central Bank (ECB) adopted a negative interest rate policy (NIRP) to achieve its price stability objective. Negative interest rates have so far supported easier financial conditions and contributed to a modest expansion in credit, demonstrating that the zero lower bound is less binding than previously thought. However, interest rate cuts also weigh on bank profitability. Substantial rate cuts may at some point outweigh the benefits from higher asset values and stronger aggregate demand. Further monetary accommodation may need to rely more on credit easing and an expansion of the ECB’s balance sheet rather than substantial additional reductions in the policy rate.

Global Financial Stability Report, April 2012
Global Financial Stability Report, April 2012

Author: International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2012-04-18

Total Pages: 94

ISBN-13: 1616352477

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The April 2012 Global Financial Stability Report assesses changes in risks to financial stability over the past six months, focusing on sovereign vulnerabilities, risks stemming from private sector deleveraging, and assessing the continued resilience of emerging markets. The report probes the implications of recent reforms in the financial system for market perception of safe assets, and investigates the growing public and private costs of increased longevity risk from aging populations.

Inflation and Activity – Two Explorations and their Monetary Policy Implications
Inflation and Activity – Two Explorations and their Monetary Policy Implications

Author: Mr.Olivier J. Blanchard

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2015-11-06

Total Pages: 29

ISBN-13: 1513555839

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We explore two issues triggered by the crisis. First, in most advanced countries, output remains far below the pre-recession trend, suggesting hysteresis. Second, while inflation has decreased, it has decreased less than anticipated, suggesting a breakdown of the relation between inflation and activity. To examine the first, we look at 122 recessions over the past 50 years in 23 countries. We find that a high proportion of them have been followed by lower output or even lower growth. To examine the second, we estimate a Phillips curve relation over the past 50 years for 20 countries. We find that the effect of unemployment on inflation, for given expected inflation, decreased until the early 1990s, but has remained roughly stable since then. We draw implications of our findings for monetary policy.

Monetary Policy in the Euro Area
Monetary Policy in the Euro Area

Author: Otmar Issing

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2001-07-26

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 9780521788885

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A non-technical analysis of the monetary policy strategy, institutions and operational procedures of the Eurosystem, first published in 2001.

IMF Research Bulletin, December 2014
IMF Research Bulletin, December 2014

Author: International Monetary Fund

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2015-09-15

Total Pages: 17

ISBN-13: 1513556959

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The December 2015 IMF Research Bulletin features a sampling of key research from the IMF. The Research Summaries in this issue look at “The Impact of Deflation and Lowflation on Fiscal Aggregates (Nicolas End, Sampawende J.-A. Tapsoba, Gilbert Terrier, and Renaud Duplay); and “Oil Exporters at the Crossroads: It Is High Time to Diversify” (Reda Cherif and Fuad Hasanov). Mahvash Saeed Qureshi provides an overview of the fifth Lindau Meeting in Economics in “Meeting the Nobel Giants.” In the Q&A column on “Seven Questions on Financial Frictions and the Sources of the Business Cycle, Marzie Taheri Sanjani looks at the driving forces of the business cycle and macroeconomic models. The top-viewed articles in 2014 from the IMF Economic Review are highlighted, along with recent IMF Working Papers, Staff Discussion Notes, and IMF publications.

Cross-Country Report on Inflation
Cross-Country Report on Inflation

Author: International Monetary Fund. European Dept.

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2015-07-14

Total Pages: 39

ISBN-13: 1513525468

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This Selected Issues paper examines the causes and drivers of low inflation in European inflation targeting countries outside the euro area, focusing on the Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland. It estimates the effects on inflation from the output gap and external factors, including oil price changes, nominal effective exchange rate (NEER) fluctuations, and euro area inflation spillovers. It is observed that external factors have been significant drivers of low inflation recently, though their contributions to inflation and the channels through which they operate vary across countries. Policy responses and options are also discussed, taking into account country-specific circumstances.