A Welfare Analysis of Macroprudential Policy Rules in the Euro Area

International audienceIn an estimated DSGE model of the European Monetary Union that accounts for financial differences between core and peripheral countries, we find that country-adjusted macroprudential measures lead to significant welfare gains with respect to a uniform macroprudential policy rule that reacts to union wide financial developments. However, peripheral countries are the winners from the implementation of macroprudential measures while core countries incur welfare losses, thus questioning the interest of adopting coordinated macroprudential measures with peripheral countries.A l'aide d'un modèle MEGIS estimé pour la zone euro tenant compte des différences économiques entre le coeur et la périphérie de la zone Euro, nous constatons que les mesures macroprudentielles conduites à l'échelle national mènent à des gains de bien-être importants par rapport à une règle de politique uniforme qui réagit aux développements financiers à l'échelle fédérale. Cependant, ces mesures macroprudentielles ne sont pas bénéfiques pour tous les participants: les gains de bien-être sont principalement obtenus pour les pays périphériques alors que les pays du coeur peuvent être perdants suite à la mise en place cette nouvelle politique de stabilité financière

Global Banking and the Conduct of Macroprudential Policy in a Monetary Union

This paper questions the role of cross-border lending in the definition of national macroprudential policies in the European Monetary Union. We build and estimate a two-country DSGE model with corporate and interbank cross-border loans, Core-Periphery diverging financial cycles and a national implementation of coordinated macroprudential measures based on Countercyclical Capital Buffers. We get three main results. First, targeting a national credit-to-GDP ratio should be favored to federal averages as this rule induces better stabilizing performances in front of important divergences in credit cycles between core and peripheral countries. Second, policies reacting to the evolution of national credit supply should be favored as the transmission channel of macroprudential policy directly impacts the marginal cost of loan production and, by so, financial intermediaries. Third, the interest of lifting up macroprudential policymaking to the supra-national level remains questionable for admissible value of international lending between Eurozone countries. Indeed, national capital buffers reacting to the union-wide loan-to-GDP ratio only lead to the same stabilization results than the one obtained under the national reaction if cross-border lending reaches 45%. However, even if cross-border linkages are high enough to justify the implementation of a federal adjusted solution, the reaction to national lending conditions remains remarkably optimal

Weather Shocks

How much do weather shocks matter? The literature addresses this question in two isolated ways: either by looking at long-term effects through the prism of theoretical models, or by focusing on short-term effects using empirical analysis. We propose a framework to bring together both the short and long-term effects through the lens of an estimated DSGE model with a weather-dependent agricultural sector. The model is estimated using Bayesian methods and quarterly data for New Zealand using the weather as an observable variable. In the short-run, our analysis underlines the key role of weather as a driver of business cycles over the sample period. An adverse weather shock generates a recession, boosts the non-agricultural sector and entails a domestic currency depreciation. Taking a long-term perspective, a welfare analysis reveals that weather shocks are not a free lunch: the welfare cost of weather is currently estimated at 0.19% of permanent consumption. Climate change critically increases the variability of key macroeconomic variables (such as GDP, agricultural output or the real exchange rate) resulting in a higher welfare cost peaking to 0.29% in the worst case scenario

Weather Shocks

How much do weather shocks matter? The literature addresses this question in two isolated ways: either by looking at long-term effects through the prism of theoretical models, or by focusing on short-term effects using empirical analysis. We propose a framework to bring together both the short and long-term effects through the lens of an estimated DSGE model with a weather-dependent agricultural sector. The model is estimated using Bayesian methods and quarterly data for New Zealand using the weather as an observable variable. In the short-run, our analysis underlines the key role of weather as a driver of business cycles over the sample period. An adverse weather shock generates a recession, boosts the non-agricultural sector and entails a domestic currency depreciation. Taking a long-term perspective, a welfare analysis reveals that weather shocks are not a free lunch: the welfare cost of weather is currently estimated at 0.19% of permanent consumption. Climate change critically increases the variability of key macroeconomic variables (such as GDP, agricultural output or the real exchange rate) resulting in a higher welfare cost peaking to 0.29% in the worst case scenario

Weather Shocks, Climate Change and Business Cycles

How much do weather shocks matter? This paper analyzes the role of weather shocks in the generation and propagation of business cycles. We develop and estimate an original DSGE model with a weather-dependent agricultural sector. The model is estimated using Bayesian methods and quarterly data for New Zealand over the sample period 1994:Q2 to 2016:Q4. Our model suggests that weather shocks play an important role in explaining macroeconomic fluctuations over the sample period. A weather shock -- as measured by a drought index -- acts as a negative supply shock characterized by declining output and rising relative prices in the agricultural sector. Increasing the variance of weather shocks in accordance with forthcoming climate change leads to a sizable increase in the volatility of key macroeconomic variables and causes significant welfare costs up to 0.58% of permanent consumption

More competition in green products markets can help save the planet

To reach net-zero emissions, firms will depend on the relative cost of decarbonising their production lines. However, the abatement goods sector – the sector providing climate change mitigation goods – exhibits low competition and thus high prices. Eric Jondeau, Gregory Levieuge, Jean-Guillaume Sahuc, and Gauthier Vermandel argue that subsidies financed by a carbon tax are an efficient instrument to promote firm entry in the abatement goods sector, fostering competition and lowering the cost of abating carbon emissions. They estimate that such a subsidy would reduce the cost of the net-zero transition, saving $2.9 trillion in world GDP each year until 2060

Global Banking and the Conduct of Macroprudential Policy in a Monetary Union

This paper questions the role of cross-border lending in the definition of national macroprudential policies in the European Monetary Union. We build and estimate a two-country DSGE model with corporate and interbank cross-border loans, Core-Periphery diverging financial cycles and a national implementation of coordinated macroprudential measures based on Countercyclical Capital Buffers. We get three main results. First, targeting a national credit-to-GDP ratio should be favored to federal averages as this rule induces better stabilizing performances in front of important divergences in credit cycles between core and peripheral countries. Second, policies reacting to the evolution of national credit supply should be favored as the transmission channel of macroprudential policy directly impacts the marginal cost of loan production and, by so, financial intermediaries. Third, the interest of lifting up macroprudential policymaking to the supra-national level remains questionable for admissible value of international lending between Eurozone countries. Indeed, national capital buffers reacting to the union-wide loan-to-GDP ratio only lead to the same stabilization results than the one obtained under the national reaction if cross-border lending reaches 45%. However, even if cross-border linkages are high enough to justify the implementation of a federal adjusted solution, the reaction to national lending conditions remains remarkably optimal

Essays on Cross-border Banking and Macroprudential Policy

The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the conduct of macroprudential policies in an heterogenous monetary union, such as the Eurozone, by borrowing on the very recent theoretical and empirical developments of Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) models and Bayesian econometrics. We account for two main patterns of the Eurosystem: the business cycles divergence between core and peripheral countries and the globalization of banking and its spillovers when implementing macroprudential policies. As a main result, the implementation of macroprudential policy measures improves welfare at the global level. The highest welfare gains are observed when countries use multiple instruments and when macroprudential policy is implemented in a granular fashion. However, the conduct of macroprudential policy is not a free lunch for participating countries: in most situations, peripheral countries are winners while core countries record either smaller welfare gains or even welfare losses. In many policy experiments, we find that there exists an equilibrium that combines welfare increases at both the global and national levels for all participants but its enforceability requires a federal action, thus justifying the existence of a coordination mechanism such as the ESRB in the Eurozone. Finally, the possibility of banks to engage in cross border lending introduces an important spillover channel that tends to increase the welfare gains associated to macroprudential measures. Ignoring this phenomenon may lead to fallacious results in terms of the welfare ranking of alternative implementation schemes.L'objectif de cette thèse est d'évaluer la conduite des politiques macroprudentielles dans une union monétaire hétérogène, comme la zone euro, en s'appuyant sur les très récents développements théoriques et empiriques des modèles en équilibre général dynamique stochastique (DSGE) et de l'économétrie Bayésienne. Dans notre analyse, nous considérons deux faits majeurs caractérisant l'Eurosystème: la divergence des cycles économiques entre le cœur et la périphérie de la zone et l'intégration bancaire à l'origine de spillovers lors de la mise en œuvre de politiques macroprudentielles. Voici les résultats que nous tirons de nos expérimentations. D'abord, la mise en œuvre des mesures de politique macroprudentielle améliore le bien-être au niveau de l'union. Les gains de bien-être plus élevés sont observés lorsque les pays utilisent plusieurs instruments et lorsque la politique macroprudentielle est mise en œuvre de manière granulaire. Cependant, la conduite de la politique macroprudentielle n'est pas forcément bénéfique pour tous les pays participants: dans la plupart des cas, les pays périphériques sont gagnants tandis que les pays du cœur enregistrent des faibles gains de bien-être voire parfois des pertes. Dans nos simulations, nous constatons qu'il existe un équilibre favorisant le bien-être à la fois aux niveaux mondial et national pour tous les participants mais sa réalisation nécessite une intervention d'une autorité fédérale telle l'ESRB. Enfin, l'introduction de prêts transfrontaliers ouvre un nouveau canal de transmission international important qui tend à augmenter les gains de bien-être associées à des mesures macroprudentielles. Ignorer ces prêts bancaires transfrontaliers peut conduire à des résultats fallacieux dans le classement des différents plans d'instauration de la politique macroprudentielle

Essais sur l'intégration bancaire et la politique macroprudentielle

L'objectif de cette thèse est d'évaluer la conduite des politiques macroprudentielles dans une union monétaire hétérogène, comme la zone euro, en s'appuyant sur les très récents développements théoriques et empiriques des modèles en équilibre général dynamique stochastique (DSGE) et de l'économétrie Bayésienne. Dans notre analyse, nous considérons deux faits majeurs caractérisant l'Eurosystème: la divergence des cycles économiques entre le cœur et la périphérie de la zone et l'intégration bancaire à l'origine de spillovers lors de la mise en œuvre de politiques macroprudentielles. Voici les résultats que nous tirons de nos expérimentations. D'abord, la mise en œuvre des mesures de politique macroprudentielle améliore le bien-être au niveau de l'union. Les gains de bien-être plus élevés sont observés lorsque les pays utilisent plusieurs instruments et lorsque la politique macroprudentielle est mise en œuvre de manière granulaire. Cependant, la conduite de la politique macroprudentielle n'est pas forcément bénéfique pour tous les pays participants: dans la plupart des cas, les pays périphériques sont gagnants tandis que les pays du cœur enregistrent des faibles gains de bien-être voire parfois des pertes. Dans nos simulations, nous constatons qu'il existe un équilibre favorisant le bien-être à la fois aux niveaux mondial et national pour tous les participants mais sa réalisation nécessite une intervention d'une autorité fédérale telle l'ESRB. Enfin, l'introduction de prêts transfrontaliers ouvre un nouveau canal de transmission international important qui tend à augmenter les gains de bien-être associées à des mesures macroprudentielles. Ignorer ces prêts bancaires transfrontaliers peut conduire à des résultats fallacieux dans le classement des différents plans d'instauration de la politique macroprudentielle.The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the conduct of macroprudential policies in an heterogenous monetary union, such as the Eurozone, by borrowing on the very recent theoretical and empirical developments of Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) models and Bayesian econometrics. We account for two main patterns of the Eurosystem: the business cycles divergence between core and peripheral countries and the globalization of banking and its spillovers when implementing macroprudential policies. As a main result, the implementation of macroprudential policy measures improves welfare at the global level. The highest welfare gains are observed when countries use multiple instruments and when macroprudential policy is implemented in a granular fashion. However, the conduct of macroprudential policy is not a free lunch for participating countries: in most situations, peripheral countries are winners while core countries record either smaller welfare gains or even welfare losses. In many policy experiments, we find that there exists an equilibrium that combines welfare increases at both the global and national levels for all participants but its enforceability requires a federal action, thus justifying the existence of a coordination mechanism such as the ESRB in the Eurozone. Finally, the possibility of banks to engage in cross border lending introduces an important spillover channel that tends to increase the welfare gains associated to macroprudential measures. Ignoring this phenomenon may lead to fallacious results in terms of the welfare ranking of alternative implementation schemes