Staehr, Karsten, Vermeulen, Robert, (2016), “How competitiveness shocks affect macroeconomic performance across euro area countries “, European Central Bank, Working Paper Series 1940, July This paper contributes to the literature by empirically assessing the short-term effects of changes in competitiveness on broader macroeconomic performance, including GDP, credit growth and the current account balance. The shorter-term effects are the most immediate and noticeable effects of changes in competitiveness and they may therefore be of …Read More

De Santis, Roberto A., (2016), “Impact of the asset purchase programme on euro area government bond yields using market news”, European Central Bank, Working Paper Series 1939, July The major central banks pursuing Quantitative Easing (QE) have bought large volumes of public and private assets with purchases carried out in several stages. The overall balance of evidence from the literature on QE is that central bank asset purchases have had a …Read More

Garcia, Juan Angel, Werner, Sebastian E. V., (2016), “Bond risk premia, macroeconomic factors and financial crisis in the euro area”, European Central Bank, Working Paper Series 1938, July Understanding the determinants of bond risk premia is increasingly important for both investors and policymakers. Among those potential determinants, macroeconomic risks are particularly relevant, and economic indeed theory suggests that investors should be compensated for exposures associated with economic fluctuations. In addition, sovereign bond market …Read More

European Parliament, (2016), “Common rules and new framework for securitisation“,  July In autumn 2015, the European Commission proposed, in the context of the Capital Markets Union initiative, a regulation on securitisation. The proposal followed a consultation with stakeholders and took into account initiatives at global (IOSCO) and European levels (EBA). The Commission’s aim is to restore investor confidence in securitisation transactions and contribute to reviving the real economy through increased …Read More

Wieland, Elisabeth, Kavonius, Ilja Kristian, (2016), “Estimating gross value added volumes and prices by institutional sector”, European Central Bank, Statistic Paper Series 14, July This paper reviews different estimation techniques to derive sectoral volumes and prices of GVA for the euro area by linking QSA to QNA data. First, we apply a nonparametric approach, which relies on existing information on the distribution of institutional sectors across economic activities. For this purpose, we use …Read More

Valiante, Diego, (2016), “Harmonising insolvency laws in the Euro Area: rationale, stock-taking and challenges. What role for the Eurogroup?”, European Parliament, July There are four distinct areas where harmonising national insolvency frameworks can improve the functioning of the single market and the stability of the Euro area. Early restructuring of businesses, bank resolution, cross-border insolvency and NPL management rely on common features of local insolvency frameworks, which can affect their …Read More

Ongena, Steven, Popov, Alexander, Van Horen, Neeltje, (2016), “The invisible hand of the government: “Moral suasion” during the European sovereign debt crisis”, European Central Bank, Working papers 1937, July Banks’ rapidly increasing balance sheet exposures to domestic sovereign debt during the euro area sovereign debt crisis led both academics and policy makers to speculate that this development was at least partly the result of domestic sovereigns putting pressure on some banks to extend material support …Read More

Gazzani, Andrea, (2016), “News and noise in the housing market”, European Central Bank, Working Papers 1933/ July During the last decades, the housing market has been recognized as a powerful source of instability for many economies around the world. The most striking examples are the US, Spain and Ireland. By taking a pure accounting view on US data, housing contributes to GDP in two basic ways: through private residential investment, …Read More

Carletti, Elena, Leonello, Agnese, (2016), “Credit market competition and liquidity crises”, ECB, No 1932 / July 2016 So far the debate among policymakers and academics has focused on the effect that competition has on the credit risk banks are exposed to. In the academic literature, two opposing views can be distinguished depending on how competition affects banks’ and borrowers’ risk taking behavior. One view is that, by reducing banks’ franchise …Read More