Synopses & Reviews
This study investigates whether the common monetary policy by the European Central Bank leads to asymmetric macroeconomic developments in the EU member countries. Several theoretical models of monetary unions are developed to assess how differences in particular channels of transmission translate into differences in the overall strength of monetary transmission within the EMU. As an extension to other studies in this field, we investigate not only the macroeconomic relevance of asymmetries in financial structure, but also the implications of asymmetries in goods and labor markets. In the empirical part, this study critically evaluates previous empirical evidence and presents new econometric results on asymmetric monetary transmission in Europe. The final part describes the structural changes after the establishment of EMU and evaluates their implications for asymmetric monetary transmission in Europe.
Synopsis
The euro and the ESCB have started in January 1999 and there is naturally a wide-ranging interest in academia and among policymakers in OECD coun- tries, how successful European Monetary Union will and can be. EMU has started with 11 countries and experienced a rapid depreciation of the cur- rency. With so many EU countries joining for a historical monetary union in a period of economic globalization, international financial market changes and ongoing EU enlargement the problem of monetary policy efficiency becomes crucial; especially as so many countries in the EU still have high unemploy- ment rates and the euro has just started at the beginning of a cyclical upswing in the euro zone. Monetary policy is also quite crucial, because the Maastricht convergence criteria severely restrict the scope of national fiscal policy. With a very limited stock of valuable European monetary experience which could be usefully exploited by the ECB and the ESCB respectively, one naturally will appreciate advanced economic modeling of the main issues. This book takes an analytical look at the problem of asymmetric monetary transmission in Euroland. Facing the ECB's monetary policy, individual mem- ber countries are likely to experience different policy effects. Countries differ in their financial structure -a well-known argument in the literature -but also in the characteristics of goods and labor markets. The latter fields have been somewhat neglected in the literature but receive broad analytical attention here.
Table of Contents
Introduction.- Sources od Asymmetric Monetary Transmission in Europe.- Classification of Asymmetries in the Structure of Output.- Asymmetries in Financial Structure.- Asymmetries in Openness.- Asymmetries in Wage-Price Mechanisms.- Implications of Partial Asymmetries.- Financial Structure and Asymmetric Monetary Transmission: Implications of a Differential Role of Asset Markets.- Introduction.- The Model.- Effects of Monetary Policy.- Implications for the ECB.- Appendix: Analytical Solution.- Financial Structure and Asymmetric Monetary Transmission: Implications of a Differential Interest Elasticity of Aggregte Demand.- Introduction.- The Model.- Effects of Monetary Policy.- Implications for the ECB.- Appendix: Analytical Solution.- Financial Structure, Asymmetric National Money Demand Functions and the Stability of European Money Demand.- Introduction.- Alternative Concepts of Money Demand Stability.- Empirical Evidence.- Implications for the ECB.- Appendix.- Asymmetric Degrees of Openness and Monetary Transmission in Europe.- Introduction.- The Model.- Effects of Monetary Policy.- Effects of Disturbances in the Rest of the World.- Implications for the ECB.- Asymmetric Wage-Price Mechanisms and Monetary Transmission in Europe.- Introduction.- The Model.- Effects of Monetary Policy.- Implications for the ECB.- Empirical Evidence on Asymmetric Monetary Transmission in Europe.- Large National Central Bank Models.- Structural Multi-Country Models.- Small Vector Autoregressive Models.- Small Structural Models.- Implications for the ECB.- Monetary Policy in an Era of Structural Change.- Structural Changes in Financial Markets.- Structural Changes in Goods Markets.- Structural Changes in Labor Markets.- Implications for the ECB.