This paper analyzes the question whether money demand in the Euro area has undergone a structural change in recent time when M3 money growth has considerably overshot the reference value set by the European Central Bank (ECB). It is found that conventional specifications of money demand have in...

This paper analyzes the question whether money demand in the Euro area has undergone a structural change in recent time when M3 money growth has considerably overshot the reference value set by the European Central Bank (ECB). It is found that conventional specifications of money demand have in...

In May 2003 the European Central Bank (ECB) announced the revision of its monetary policy strategy. Although the ECB stressed that the revision would not imply any fundamental change in their decisions, this remains to be verified empirically. Therefore, this paper tries to answer the question...

In this paper, it is analyzed whether core money growth helps to predict future inflation in a useful and reliable way. Using an out-of-sample forecasting exercise and a stability analysis, it is shown that core money growth carries important information not contained in the inflation history,...

This paper studies the causes of price dispersion in the euro area emerging in response to a shock that hits all member countries symmetrically. We use a panel VAR model which is estimated over the period 1996 - 2007 to generate impulse responses of a range of price and wage variables to an oil...

This paper explores the importance of housing and mortgage market heterogeneity in 12 European countries for the transmission of monetary policy. We use a panel VAR model which is estimated over the period 1995-2006 to generate impulse responses of key macroeconomic variables to a monetary...

The economic recovery in the euro area has accelerated in the course of 2004. During the first two quarters, real GDP rose at an annual rate of slightly over 2 percent, after about 1½ percent in the second half of 2003. For the first time since 2001, overall capacity utilization increased....

The recovery in Euroland has started at the beginning of this year but it has remained rather moderate. Real GDP increased at an annual rate of less than 1½ percent during the first half of 2002. Capacity utilization has declined further and unemployment continued to go up. While exports have...

The economic situation in the euro area continues to be weak. In the course of 2003, real GDP has only stagnated. Several factors prevented the expected recovery to materialize. Last year’s collapse of stock prices dampened activity, so did the high oil price. In addition, the uncertainty in...