We build a stylised 12-country model of the euro area and use it to analyse why differences in national inflation and growth rates arise within the European monetary union. We find that inflation persistence is a key potential explanatory factor. Other more frequently mentioned reasons, like...

We examine the euro area monetary policy transmission process using post-1999 data, with two main questions in mind: has it changed after - and because of - EMU and, if so, is it becoming homogeneous across countries. Given the data limitations, we concentrate on three blocks of transmission:...