Understanding the behaviour of private consumption is crucial for the assessment of the economic situation in the short and the medium term. As the largest expenditure component of GDP, household spending plays a central role in the cyclical fluctuations of activity around its long-term growth...

This paper develops a DSGE model for an open economy and estimates it on euro area data using Bayesian estimation techniques. The model features nominal and real frictions, as well as financial frictions in the form of liquidity constrained households. The model incorporates active monetary and...

It is often argued that fiscal stabilisation in the euro area compares unfavourably with the US, not least because of the perceived limitations of the Stability and Growth Pact. This paper qualifies this perception by taking a closer look at fiscal policy making since the mid-1990s. It examines...

This paper introduces a statistical model for short-term GDP forecasting based on approximate dynamic factors, Stock and Watson methodology, extracted from a very large number of leading indicators at several lags. Given that factor extraction is performed on many series from all countries of...

The study on price stickiness examined nominal rigidities in the euro area and their importance for the functioning of markets. The study examined nominal rigidities in the euro area and their importance for the functioning of markets. It analysed the price setting behaviour of firms at the...

Conventional money demand specifications in the euro area have become unstable since 2001. We specify a money demand equation in deviations of individual euro area Member States variables from the euro area average and show that the income elasticity as well as the interest rate semi-elasticity...

This Report analyses and compares a number of indicators related to the evolution of the competitive behaviour of firms in the Single Market, from 1999 to 2007, in a selected number of both manufacturing and services industries and eight EU countries: Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Poland,...

This paper discusses the level and design of support schemes used to promote renewable electricity in Europe. A theoretical model is presented to determine optimal renewable energy policies. Policies that solely aim to address environmental externalities and energy security risks are unlikely to...

The European Monetary Union (EMU) has been the single most important policy-induced innovation in the international financial system since the collapse of the Bretton-Woods system. By eliminating exchange rate risk, EMU has eliminated a key obstacle to financial integration. But while a single...

This paper uses an estimated DSGE model for the euro area to study the effects of fiscal stabilisation policies. There are at least two features of the euro area economy which makes this analysis interesting. First, there are nominal rigidities in goods and labour markets, and there are...