The German economy continues to recover, and will grow by 2.2 percent in 2015 and by 1.9 percent in 2016. The unemployment rate will further decline, to 6.4 percent this year and 6.1percent in 2016. Inflation, which averages 0.5 percent this year, will be substantially dampened by the slump in...

We explore the impact of large banks and of financial openness for aggregate growth. Large banks matter because of granular effects: if markets are very concentrated in terms of the size distribution of banks, idiosyncratic shocks at the bank-level do not cancel out in the aggregate but can...

Does the mere presence of big banks affect macroeconomic outcomes? In this paper, we develop a theory of granularity (Gabaix, 2011) for the banking sector, introducing Bertrand competition and heterogeneous banks charging variable markups. Using this framework, we show conditions under which...

Weltwirtschaft: Erholung auf wackeligem Fundament / Deutschland: Nur langsam aus der Talsohle / Geldpolitik und Finanzmärkte: Kreditklemme vorbeugen / Finanzpolitik: Einnahmen steigern und Ausgaben kürzen / Die wichtigsten Daten der Volkswirtschaftlichen Gesamtrechnung für Deutschland

Bis zum Jahresende 2020 will die Europäische Zentralbank (EZB) die Ergebnisse ihrer aktuellen Strategieüberprüfung vorlegen. Welche Änderungen sind zu erwarten und was wäre wünschenswert? Der vorliegende Bericht beschäftigt sich mit zwei Bereichen der Überprüfung. Erstens werden...

By the end of 2020, the European Central Bank (ECB) will present the results of its monetary policy strategy review. What changes are to be expected and what changes are needed? This report covers two areas of the strategy review. First, alternatives to the current definition of price stability...

Does the mere presence of big banks affect macroeconomic outcomes? In this paper, we develop a theory of granularity (Gabaix, 2011) for the banking sector, introducing Bertrand competition and heterogeneous banks charging variable markups. Using this framework, we show conditions under which...

This paper investigates the link between mortgage supply shocks at the bank level and regional house price growth in the U.S. using micro-level data on mortgage markets from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act for the 1990-2014 period. Our results suggest that bank-specific mortgage supply shocks...

This paper provides evidence for the propagation of idiosyncratic mortgage supply shocks to the macroeconomy. Based on micro-level data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act for the 1990-2016 period, our results suggest that lender-specific mortgage supply shocks affect aggregate mortgage, house...