We investigate the drivers of the recent inflation in three currency areas: the United States, the euro area, and the United Kingdom. To do so, we use a VAR set-up to examine the nature of the shocks that underpinned the recent inflation. We apply two methods to calculate shocks -- the standard...

The rarity with which firms reduce nominal wages has been frequently observed, even in the face of considerable negative economic shocks. This paper uses a unique survey of fourteen European countries to ask firms directly about the incidence of wage cuts and to assess the relevance of a range...

This article investigates by means of an augmented gravity model, the impact of EMU on financial market integration across time by assessing its effect on capital (equities and bonds) holdings. We contribute to the respective literature by investigating this effect from a global perspective and...

It has been well established that the wages of individual workers react little, especially downwards, to shocks that hit their employer. This paper presents new evidence from a unique survey of firms across Europe on the prevalence of downward wage rigidity in both real and nominal terms. We...

We document the existence of a global monetary policy factor in sovereign bond yields in a panel of 45 countries, consisting of both developed and emerging economies. This global factor is related to the size of the aggregate balance sheet of the four major central banks (Fed, ECB, Bank of Japan...

The scope of this paper is to examine if and how the establishment of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) influenced the profitability of European banks. To do so, we employ the returns on assets and equity as alternative indicators for profitability. Using data for 344 European banks in...

The euro-area sovereign debt crisis was characterized by feedback loops between (1) sovereign bond ratings and sovereign spreads in single jurisdictions and (2) sovereign spreads and ratings among jurisdictions. One explanation of this circumstance is that the ECB was unable to perform the role...

We examine the impact of emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) on bank lending in eleven euro area countries during the financial crisis. With the intensification of the crisis, ELA took on a pivotal role in some countries. However, assessments of the quantitative impact of ELA in the literature...

As consolidation in the banking sector has increased impressively in the wake of the global financial crisis, the question of the impact of market power on bank risk has become topical again. In this study we investigate empirically the impact of market power as evidenced by concentration (CR5...

The euro-area financial crisis that erupted in 2009 was marked by negative confidence effects that had both domestic and international ramifications. Domestically, bank lending declined sharply. Internationally, the demand for the euro as a reserve currency fell precipitously. We investigate the...