This paper assesses the performance of monetary indicators as well as of a large range of economic and financial indicators in predicting euro area HICP inflation out-of-sample over the period first quarter 1999 till third quarter 2006 considering standard bivariate forecasting models, factor...

This paper reviews the usefulness of monetary conditions in the euro area as leading indicators for aggregate demand conditions. Monetary conditions are measured with the MCI concept proposed by the Bank of Canada, and with the yield spread. A central result is that causality runs in both ways...

Der Artikel hebt den Nutzen einer gemeinsamen Währung in der Eurozone für grenzüberschreitende wirtschaftliche Aktivitäten hervor.Es werden die Vorteile einheitlicher Finanzkonditionen zusammengetragen, die das Zusammenwachsen der Wirtschaftskreisläufe unterstützen.

Financial conditions indexes are developed for the United States and euro area using a wide range of financial indicators and a dynamic factor model. The financial conditions indexes are shown to be useful for forecasting economic activity and have good revision properties