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...

This paper investigates the behaviour of the volatility of returns in bond and stock markets for a sample of eight countries using very long samples of data. Volatility has been high during episodes of economic and political turbulence, in particular during the interwar period. Moreover,...

We estimate empirical reaction functions for the European Central Bank (ECB) with ordered-probit techniques, using the ECB's Monthly Bulletin to guide the choice of variables. The results show that policy reacts to the state of the real economy, M3 growth, and exchange rate changes but not to...

This paper considers the relationship of the Nordic business cycle to the world business cycle using annual output data spanning 1870–1988. The paper studies the Nordic and a set of non-Nordic countries separately and finds evidence for both a Nordic and a world business cycle. Output...

A striking feature of financial market behaviour in recent years has been the low level of price volatility over a wide range of financial assets and markets. The issue has attracted the attention of central bankers and financial regulators due to the potential implications for financial...

Recent debates on monetary condition and inflation pressures on the Mainland call for an analysis on the inflation dynamics and their main determinants. A natural starting point for the econometric analysis of monetary and inflation developments is the notion of monetary equilibrium. This paper...

Many central banks have abandoned monetary targeting because the link between money growth and inflation seemed to disappear in the 1980s. Using spectral regression techniques, we show that for the euro area, Japan, the UK, and the US there is a unit relationship between money growth and...