Economic Convergence in the Euro Area: Coming Together or Drifting Apart?

Economic Convergence in the Euro Area: Coming Together or Drifting Apart? PDF Author: Mr.Jeffrey R. Franks
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484338499
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 47

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Book Description
We examine economic convergence among euro area countries on multiple dimensions. While there was nominal convergence of inflation and interest rates, real convergence of per capita income levels has not occurred among the original euro area members since the advent of the common currency. Income convergence stagnated in the early years of the common currency and has reversed in the wake of the global economic crisis. New euro area members, in contrast, have seen real income convergence. Business cycles became more synchronized, but the amplitude of those cycles diverged. Financial cycles showed a similar pattern: sychronizing more over time, but with divergent amplitudes. Income convergence requires reforms boosting productivity growth in lagging countries, while cyclical and financial convergence can be enhanced by measures to improve national and euro area fiscal policies, together with steps to deepen the single market.

Economic Convergence in the Euro Area: Coming Together or Drifting Apart?

Economic Convergence in the Euro Area: Coming Together or Drifting Apart? PDF Author: Mr.Jeffrey R. Franks
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484338499
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 47

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Book Description
We examine economic convergence among euro area countries on multiple dimensions. While there was nominal convergence of inflation and interest rates, real convergence of per capita income levels has not occurred among the original euro area members since the advent of the common currency. Income convergence stagnated in the early years of the common currency and has reversed in the wake of the global economic crisis. New euro area members, in contrast, have seen real income convergence. Business cycles became more synchronized, but the amplitude of those cycles diverged. Financial cycles showed a similar pattern: sychronizing more over time, but with divergent amplitudes. Income convergence requires reforms boosting productivity growth in lagging countries, while cyclical and financial convergence can be enhanced by measures to improve national and euro area fiscal policies, together with steps to deepen the single market.

Monetary Policy Transmission in the Euro Area

Monetary Policy Transmission in the Euro Area PDF Author: Ignazio Angeloni
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139438816
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 515

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Book Description
This 2003 book offers the most systematic analysis available of the impact of European Central Bank monetary policy on the national economies of the Eurozone. Analysing macro and micro-economic evidence, with chapters by central bank economists, including a discussion chapter by eminent macroeconomists, it is an essential contribution to research on the subject.

Inflation News and Euro Area Inflation Expectations

Inflation News and Euro Area Inflation Expectations PDF Author: Juan Angel Garcia
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484363019
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 59

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Book Description
Do euro area inflation expectations remain well-anchored? This paper finds that the protracted period of low (and below-target) inflation in the euro area since 2013 has weakened their anchoring. Testing their sensitivity to inflation and macroeconomic news, this paper expands existing results in two key dimensions. First, by analyzing all available (advanced) inflation releases. Second, the reactions of expectations are investigated at daily, time-varying and intraday frequency regressions to add robustness to our conclusions. Results point to a significant impact of inflation news over recent years that had not been observed before in the euro area.

External Imbalances in the Euro Area

External Imbalances in the Euro Area PDF Author: Ms.Ruo Chen
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1475512120
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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Book Description
The paper examines the extent to which current account imbalances of euro area countries are related to intra-euro area factors and to external trade shocks. We argue that the traditional explanations for the rising imbalances are correct, but are incomplete. We uncover a large impact of declines in export competitiveness and asymmetric trade developments vis-à-vis the rest of the world –in particular vis-à-vis China, Central and Eastern Europe, and oil exporters- on the external balance of euro area debtor countries. While current account imbalances of euro area deficit countries vis-à-vis the rest of the world increased, they were financed mostly by intra-euro area capital inflows (in particular by the purchase of government and financial institutions’ securities, and cross-border interbank lending) which permitted external imbalances to grow over time.

Renewable Energy Policy Convergence in the EU

Renewable Energy Policy Convergence in the EU PDF Author: David Jacobs
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317066308
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
This book examines the coordination of renewable energy policies in the European Union using an innovative theoretical approach to explain national policy making. David Jacobs asks, why are national support instruments for electricity from renewable energy sources converging, even though the harmonisation of these frameworks at the European level has failed? Which causal mechanisms lead to cross-national policy similarities? And what are the implications for policy coordination in the EU? The author traces the evolution of feed-in tariffs - the most successful and most widely used support mechanism for renewable electricity - in Germany, Spain and France. He reveals increasing cross-national policy similarities in feed-in tariff design - despite the failure of harmonizing instruments at the European level. He explains these increasing policy similarities by applying policy convergence theory. Policy convergence can occur voluntarily, based on transnational communication, regulatory competition and technological innovations and these findings have important implications for European policy steering. The key to this book is the interrelation of an innovative theoretical concept (coordination of policies in the international arena via voluntary cooperation) with a very topical empirical research focus - the promotion of renewable energies in the EU. It will be essential reading for scholars and students of environmental policy, comparative politics and European studies.

European Variations as a Key to Cooperation

European Variations as a Key to Cooperation PDF Author: Ernst Hirsch Ballin
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030328937
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
This Open Access book offers a novel view on the benefits of a lasting variation between the member states in the EU. In order to bring together thirty very different European states and their citizens, the EU will have to offer more scope for variation. Unlike the existing differentiation by means of opt-outs and deviations, variation is not a concession intended to resolve impasses in negotiations; it is, rather, a different structuring principle. It takes differences in needs and in democratically supported convictions seriously. A common core remains necessary, specifically concerning the basic principles of democracy, rule of law, fundamental rights and freedoms, and the common market. By taking this approach, the authors remove the pressure to embrace uniformity from the debate about the EU’s future. The book discusses forms of variation that fall both within and outside the current framework of European Union Treaties. The scope for these variations is mapped out in three domains: the internal market; the euro; and asylum, migration and border control.

The European Central Bank

The European Central Bank PDF Author: Hanspeter K. Scheller
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789289900270
Category : Banks and banking, Central
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
Comprehensive 200-page overview of the ECB from its inception in June 1998 until the present day.

The Europe 2020 Strategy

The Europe 2020 Strategy PDF Author: Daniel Gros
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789461381248
Category : Competition
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Launched in March 2010 by the European Commission, the Europe 2020 strategy aims to achieve "smart, sustainable, and inclusive" growth. The engines for this growth are - Knowledge and innovation - Greener and more efficient use of resources - Higher employment combined with social and territorial cohesion This CEPS report takes an in-depth look at this major initiative and finds that the strategy itself needs to be revised in several important respects. First, the authors believe, R&D spending per se is not the best indicator of innovativeness; a new measure, intangible capital, would be more appropriate. Second, while increasing the share of the workforce with a university degree is important for competitiveness and employment, it is the quality of that education that matters more than the quantity. The study also finds that employment targets would be better reached by a skills upgrade among women who have the least education. Concerning climate change, the authors conclude that unless the EU increases the level of its ambition and adds a carbon import tariff, reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions are likely to have a negligible impact on global climate change. Finally and more generally, the report argues that the 2020 strategy should acknowledge the importance of institutional efficiency at the national level.

Real Convergence in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe

Real Convergence in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe PDF Author: Reiner Martin
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
"Real convergence has gained substantial momentum in central, eastern and south-eastern Europe. Countries in these regions are all involved in the European integration process, either as recently joined EU member states, candidate countries, or potential candidates for membership. It has therefore become increasingly important to consider methods of catching up, to explore cross-country differences and to review key policy challenges for the convergence process. Through considering these issues in detail, prospects for future adoption of the euro can also be assessed. This book brings together policymakers, high-level practitioners, academics, and experts from central banks and international institutions in order to explore the key policy challenges facing the convergence process. Contributions focus especially on inflation, growth, migration and the balance of payments. This book is an essential read for all scholars interested in the transition of central, eastern and south-eastern Europe, and in the process of EU integration and enlargement."--Book cover.

Monetary and Exchange Rate Policies of the Euro Area

Monetary and Exchange Rate Policies of the Euro Area PDF Author: International Monetary Fund
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1451812981
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
This paper examines monetary and exchange rate policies of the euro area. The paper reviews the European Central Bank’s definition of price stability, and examines the factors determining “the optimal rate of inflation” in the euro area. It reviews the benefits of price stability, including the reduction in the distortions of savings and investment behavior that stem from the interaction between nominal tax systems and inflation. It then goes on to evaluate arguments for maintaining a small positive inflation rate in the context of the euro area.