Using unit labor cost (ULC) data from Euro area countries as well as US States and German Länder we investigate inflation convergence using different approaches, namely panel unit root tests, co-integration tests and error-correction models. All in all we cannot reject convergence of ULC growth in EMU, however, country-specific deviations from the rest of the currency union are more pronounced in Europe ...
Über die geldpolitische Strategie der Europäischen Zentralbank (EZB) ist in den vier Jahren ihres Bestehens vielfach diskutiert worden. Für dieses Jahr plant nun die EZB selbst eine Überprüfung ihrer Zwei-Säulen-Strategie. Um den Marktteilnehmern eine eindeutige Richtschnur zu geben, sollte die EZB ein Inflationsziel explizit festlegen. Die Bedeutung einer "strukturellen" Inflation (Balassa-Samuelson-Effekt) ...
In this paper, the empirical relevance of the credit channel for the explanation of monetary policy transmission in Germany during the period from 1985 to 1998 is analyzed. While existing studies of the credit channel rely mostly on the analysis of monetary policy effects on balance sheet items, both quantities and financing costs are considered here. Using vector autoregressive models, impulse response ...
Within a wide range of other economic and financial indicators, money is highly relevant to the two-pillar monetary strategy of the European Central Bank for detecting risks to price stability over the medium term. Money demand models are a natural benchmark for assessing monetary developments. The existence of a well-specified and stable relation between money and prices can be perceived as a prerequisite ...