In the wake of the two longer-term refinancing operations with a maturity of three years conducted in December 2011 and February 2012, amounts placed on the Eurosystem’s deposit facility surged to unprecedented high levels of around € 800 billion. The article clarifies how this high recourse...

In most advanced economies, risk-free interest rates – i.e. the rates applicable to assets with minimal credit risk – have fallen to historically low levels over the recent period, in both nominal and real terms. These interest rates are particularly important because they serve as the basis...

Both the size and the persistence of inflation differentials in the euro area have been the subject of a large number of studies in recent years. These studies have tried to determine the causes of these differentials as well as their implications not only for the implementation of the common...

This paper is a discussion of monetary efficiency, monetary safety, and the relation of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act to both. It contains speculation about whether a modified version of the Act could have postponed or prevented the crisis of 2008.

Drastic changes in central bank operations and monetary institutions in recent years have made previously standard approaches to explaining the determination of the price level obsolete. Recent expansions of central bank balance sheets and of the levels of rich-country sovereign debt, as well as...

Although the world’s leading central banks are currently still conducting a decidedly expansionary monetary policy, it can be assumed that, sooner or later, that policy will be tightened. In view of the divergent macroeconomic situations and prospects, the normalisation of monetary policy is...

Although the world’s leading central banks are currently still conducting a decidedly expansionary monetary policy, it can be assumed that, sooner or later, that policy will be tightened. In view of the divergent macroeconomic situations and prospects, the normalisation of monetary policy is...

We consider two classes of explanations for the rise in policy-related economic uncertainty in the United States since 1960. The first stresses growth in government spending, taxes, and regulation. A second stresses increased political polarization and its implications for the policymaking...