Moro, Andrea, Maresch, Daniela, Ferrando, Annalisa, Udell, Gregory F., (2017), “Does employment protection legislation affect credit access? Evidence from Europe”, ECB, May We investigate the impact of employment protection on firms’ credit access by looking at both credit obtained from banks and firms’ decision to apply for a loan. We find that greater flexibility in structuring the employees’ working hours and in dismissing employees increases the probability that firms obtain …Read More
What could a euro-area finance minister mean?
Wolff, Guntram B., (2017), “What could a euro-area finance minister mean?”, Bruegel, 17 May With the election of Emmanuel Macron as president of France, the idea of a euro-area treasury and finance minister is back in the limelight. The election programme of Emmanuel Macron calls for “a budget for the euro area voted by a euro-area parliament and executed by a euro-area finance minister” with the aim to “be able to …Read More
Labour market performance of refugees in the EU
Peschner, Jörg, (2017), “Labour market performance of refugees in the EU”, Working Paper 1/2017, European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, 5 May This paper analyses the individual and socio-demographic factors behind the low employment rate of refugees compared to individuals born in the EU but also compared to other migrants. It complements the 2016 Employment and Social Developments Review where a chapter was dedicated to the labour …Read More
Bank Solvency and Funding Cost : New Data and New Results
Valderrama,, Laura, Sigmund, Michael, Schmitz, Stefan W., (2017), “Bank Solvency and Funding Cost : New Data and New Results”, IMF, 15 May This paper presents new evidence on the empirical relationship between bank solvency and funding costs. Building on a newly constructed dataset drawing on supervisory data for 54 large banks from six advanced countries over 2004–2013, we use a simultaneous equation approach to estimate the contemporaneous interaction between solvency and …Read More
Germany Will Lose if Macron Fails
Kotz, Hans-Helmut, (2017), “Germany Will Lose if Macron Fails”, Project Syndicate, 15 May FRANKFURT – When Emmanuel Macron won the French presidential election, many Germans breathed a loud sigh of relief. A pro-European centrist had soundly defeated a far-right populist, the National Front’s Marine Le Pen. But if the nationalist threat to Europe is truly to be contained, Germany will have to work with Macron to address the economic challenges that …Read More
The Global Crisis watershed: Investment-less credit booms
Ohnsorge, Franziska, Yu, Shu, (2017), “The Global Crisis watershed: Investment-less credit booms”, Vox Eu, 16 May Credit booms have often financed rapid investment growth, with investment subsequently stalling (Mendoza and Terrones 2012, Gorton and Ordonez 2016). However, after the Global Crisis, the nature of the relationship between credit and investment has changed. Specifically, credit to the nonfinancial private sector has risen rapidly in several several emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), …Read More
What we can learn from euro-dollar tweets
Gholampour, Vahid, Wincoop, Eric van, (2017), “What we can learn from euro-dollar tweets”, Vox Eu, 15 May 2017 Research on the microstructure of foreign exchange (FX) has established the importance of private information for the determination of exchange rates. But private information is, by definition, unobservable. In social media, large numbers of people directly express their opinions about the direction of asset prices. Other studies, such as Antweiler and Frank (2004) and …Read More
The Eurosystem collateral framework explained
Bindseil, Ulrich, Corsi, Marco, Sahel, Benjamin, Visser, Ad, (2017), “The Eurosystem collateral framework explained”, ECB Occasional Paper Series No 189, May The Eurosystem collateral framework (ESCF) has played a key role in the ECB monetary policy implementation since 1999. Moreover, the financial and sovereign debt crisis and with it the increased reliance of banks on central bank credit have underlined the importance of central bank collateral frameworks. Broad collateral frameworks have helped …Read More
Economic Bulletin
European Central Bank, (2017), “Economic Bulletin”, Issue 3, May The ECB’s monetary policy measures have continued to preserve the very favourable financing conditions that are necessary to secure a sustained convergence of inflation rates towards levels below, but close to, 2% over the medium term. Incoming data since the Governing Council’s meeting in early March confirm that the cyclical recovery of the euro area economy is becoming increasingly solid and …Read More
International Financial Integration in the Aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis
Milesi-Ferretti, Gian M, Lane, Philip R., (2017), “International Financial Integration in the Aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis“, IMF, 10 May This paper documents the evolution of international financial integration since the global financial crisis using an updated dataset on external assets and liabilities, covering over 210 economies for the period 1970-2015. It finds that the growth in cross-border positions in relation to world GDP has come to a halt. …Read More