Money demand in Europe: Evidence from the past

The conditions under which European monetary policy is likely to be conducted are investigated by means of multi-variate time series modelling using aggregated data of all eleven European Monetary Union member states. A cointegration analysis identifies two stable long-run relationships within a set of five key macroeconomic variables, one of which can be interpreted as a money demand function and a sec(md one as a long term real interest rate (Fisher parity). Our findings indicate that monetary authorities might well be able to base their policy on the existence of a money demand. Particular emphasis is given both to the data sources and their aggregation, by providing a transparent account of our calculation procedure, which is not yet common in the existing literature.