We study the determinants of bond spreads of euro area sovereigns since the introduction of the euro. We show that an aggregate risk factor is a main driver of spreads. The aggregate risk factor also plays an important role for sovereign risk through its interaction with the size and structure...

We study the determinants of sovereign bond spreads in the euro area since the introduction of the euro. We show that an aggregate risk factor is a main driver of spreads. This factor also plays an important indirect role for risk spreads through its interaction with the size and structure of...

We study the determinants of sovereign bond spreads in the euro area since the introduction of the euro. We show that an aggregate risk factor is a main driver of spreads. This factor also plays an important indirect role for risk spreads through its interaction with the size and structure of...

We investigate the impact of EMU on macroeconomic volatility. The volatilities of inflation and nominal interest rates have declined, as has, more importantly, the volatility of real consumption growth. Since global volatility has fallen for reasons unrelated to EMU (the “great...

We study the determinants of euro area sovereign bond spreads since the introduction of the euro. An aggregate risk factor is a main driver of spreads, both directly and indirectly by interacting with the size and structure of national banking sectors. When aggregate risk increases, countries...

This research memorandum presents a chronology of (press) information about important measures, events, adresses, quotations an comments by politicians, banking economists and other financial experts closely involved in the European integration process. Central points in the report are the weak...

Country members of EMU as well as the United States have improved their fiscal positions during the course of the past decade. This article considers the impact of further government debt and deficit reductions in the EMU area. First the literature on government finance establishing the role of...

This paper studies the effects of more than 40 years of European integration on prices. Up to now, most empirical research in this area has been micro-based. We follow a macro approach. On the basis of scaled HICP strong evidence is found for price convergence in Europe, especially in the 1960s...

This paper investigates the position of the Phillips curve in a single currency area, when the countries have different levels of unemployment. We will use the aggregation hypothesis to show that allowing for the dispersion of unemployment is essential to quantifying the level of inflation...

This survey, which was conducted in September 1998, shows that the degree of acceptance of the Euro has grown to 78% among the public and 94% among businesses. Merely a quarter of the public is aware, however, of the starting year of the EMU, compared to 70% among large enterprises and 40 %...