The article assesses the real costs and profits of German claims on the Eurosystem through TARGET2. While Germany’s nominal profits from holding TARGET2 claims depend on the development of the nominal interest rate, the real profits are determined by the real interest rate as well as the real...

We estimate a panel VAR model for the euro area to quantitatively asses the contribution of the TARGET2 system to the propagation of different types of structural economic shocks as well as to the historical evolution of aggregate economic activity in euro area member countries. Our results...

Large increases in TARGET2 balances in the euro area since 2008 have led to concern and debate about the appropriate interpretation and policy reaction - in particular in TARGET2 creditor countries such as Germany. Against this background, we examine the main drivers of the increases and...