This paper isolates the operation of the ECB’s balance-sheet channel (2003-2016) by assessing how high-frequency identified asset-price surprises affect firm-based cash-to-asset ratios conditional on the value of available collateral. It is found that positive surprises that enhance future...

This paper provides novel evidence on the accumulation of precautionary cash by European firms over 2000-2017 using a difference-in-difference approach. By increasing corporate borrowing capacity, rising asset tangibility is found to have reduced the need for precautionary cash amongst...

This paper offers a simple theoretical model and some suggestive empirical evidence on the open economy New Keynesian Phillips Curve (NKPC) based on Blanchard's chain-of-production model (1983). It is here argued that, given a vertical input-output structure of production, the final stage comes...

The crisis in Greece presents an extraordinary test for the euro, but also an opportunity to strengthen, and apply more diligently, existing procedures governing the economic and monetary Union. This Policy Brief authored by Bruegel Director Jean Pisani-Ferry, Senior Fellow André Sapir and...

In this paper, Benedicta Marzinotto and Jörg Rocholl focus on the tightening of credit conditions for banking rules (Basel III), particularly the estimated macroeconomic costs range, monetary policy and the aggregate costs of the measures. The authors report that the monetary policy response to...

Significant volumes of Structural and Cohesion Funds have been pre-allocated but remain undisbursed or uncommitted. In Portugal, unused funds amount to 9.3 percent of GDP, in Greece close to 7 percent, and in central and eastern European countries about 15 percent. These funds should be part of...

We run a standard income convergence analysis for the last decade and confirm an already established finding in the growth economics literature. EU countries are converging. Regions in Europe are also converging. But, within countries, regional disparities are on the rise. At the same time,...

The EU is in the process of negotiating its 2014-20 financial framework. Failure to reach an agreement would imply a delay in the preparation of the strategic plans each member state puts together to explain how it will use Structural and Cohesion Funds. Even if solutions are found â?? for...

For markets, European economic governance faces a crisis of policy effectiveness, while for citizens the European Union faces a democratic legitimacy crisis. The introduction of the European Semester economic policy surveillance system has not resolved these problems. Policy guidance deriving...