The ECB's strategy of inflation targeting as currently practiced requires only minor adjustments to allow the ECB to best provide price stability and support the EU's general economic policies. The key to inflation targeting is a distinct and symmetric inflation target that serves as a benchmark...

The paper analyzes the integration of euro area sovereign bond markets during the European sovereign debt crisis. It tests for contagion (i.e., an intensification in the transmission of shocks across countries), fragmentation (a reduction in spillovers) and flight-to-quality patterns, exploiting...