Nonfinancial debt and economic growth in euro-area countries [WP]

In this paper we analyse the effects of all sources of the accumulation of nonfinancial debt (household, corporate as well as government) on economic growth in ten euro-area countries during the 1980-2015 period. To this end, we make use of three models (a baseline, an asymmetric and a threshold model) based on the empirical growth literature augmented by debt to assess whether a debt change has an impact on growth over and above other determinants, treating the different types of borrowers separately. By exploring the time series dimension in order to properly account for the historical experience of each country in the sample, we aim to detect potential heterogeneities in the relationship across euro area countries. Our results with both the baseline and the asymmetric models suggest that although the effects on nonfinancial debt accumulation clearly differ across countries, on average, the highest marginal impact of a rise in debt corresponds to the household and public sector, with an increase in private debt being more harmful in peripheral than in central countries; in contrast, the average effect of a rise in public debt does not differ between these two groups of countries. As for the effects of a debt increase beyond the turning point estimated in the threshold model, our findings indicate that the highest marginal impact corresponds to the household sector

Public debt and economic growth: Further evidence for the euro area [WP]

This paper empirically investigates the short and long run impact of public debt on economic growth. We use annual data from both central and peripheral countries of the euro area (EA) for the 1961-2013 period and estimate a production function augmented with a debt stock term by applying the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach. Our results suggest different patterns across EA countries and tend to support the view that public debt always has a negative impact on the long-run performance of EA member states, whilst its short-run effect may be positive depending on the country

Causality and contagion in peripheral EMU public debt markets: a dynamic approach

Our research aims to analyze the causal relationships in the behavior of public debt issued by peripheral member countries of the European Economic and Monetary Union -EMU-, with special emphasis on the recent episodes of crisis triggered in the eurozone sovereign debt markets since 2009. With this goal in mind, we make use of a database of daily frequency of yields on 10-year government bonds issued by five EMU countries -Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain-, covering the entire history of the EMU from its inception on 1 January 1999 until 31 December 2010. In the first step, we explore the pair-wise causal relationship between yields, both for the whole sample and for changing subsamples of the data, in order to capture the possible time-varying causal relationship. This approach allows us to detect episodes of contagion between yields on bonds issued by different countries. In the second step, we study the determinants of these contagion episodes, analyzing the role played by different factors, paying special attention to instruments that capture the total national debt -domestic and foreign- in each country

Short-run and long-run effects of public debt on economic performance: Evidence from EMU countries

This paper contributes to the literature by examining the possible influence of public debt on economic performance, using data from both central and peripheral countries of the European Economic and Monetary Union for the 1960-2012 period. To this end, a simple aggregate production function augmented for public debt is estimated using the ARDL bounds testing approach. Our findings tend to support the view that the level of public debt always has a negative impact on the long-run performance of EMU countries, whilst its short-run effect may be positive in some specific cases

Heterogeneity in the debt-growth nexus: Evidence from EMU countries [WP]

The objective of this paper is to examine whether the threshold beyond which public debt may have a detrimental effect on economic growth changes across euro area countries during the 1961-2015 period. In contrast with previous studies, we do not use panel estimation techniques, but implement a time-series analysis for each country based on the growth literature. The results suggest that in all the countries but Belgium a debt increase begins to have detrimental effects on growth well before the SGP debt ceiling (a debt ratio of around 40% and 50% in central and peripheral countries, respectively) is reached. So, although austerity policies should be applied in EMU countries – since according to our results debt reduction barely exerts any significant beneficial impact on EMU countries’ growth – they should be accompanied by structural reforms that can increase their potential GDP. Moreover, as our results suggest that the harmful impact of debt on growth does not occur beyond the same threshold and with the same intensity in all EMU countries, a focus on average ratios and impacts may be unsuitable for defining policies. Specifically, our findings suggest that the pace of fiscal adjustment should be lower in Greece and Spain than in the other country

Seeking price and macroeconomic stabilisation in the euro area:The role of house prices and stock prices

We propose an Economic Stability Index (ESI) incorporating house prices and stock prices as components of the measure of the inflation rate in order to allow the European Central Bank (ECB) to achieve both price and macroeconomic stability. We use an optimisation approach to estimate target weights for different sectoral prices in the broader price index, which depend on sectoral parameters other than those used to compute the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices applied by the ECB to gauge price stability in the euro area (EA). Our results suggest that if the ECB had targeted the ESI, it would have implemented a different monetary policy which would had increased stability in the EA’s economic activity and would have helped to create adequate preconditions for sustainable economic growth and job creation

Causes and hazards of the euro area sovereign debt crisis: Pure and fundamentals-based contagion

This paper tries to contribute to the understanding of sovereign debt crises' pattern by empirically investigating the determinants of the recent euro area crisis to assess if its transmission was due to "pure" or "fundamentals-based" contagion. Using sovereign bond yield spreads with respect to Germany for a sample of ten central and peripheral countries from January 1999 to December 2012, we firstly examine the dynamic evolution of Granger-causality within the 90 pairs of yield spreads in our sample to detect episodes of contagion (associated with episodes of significant intensification in causality). Secondly, we make use of a logit model to explore whether there is evidence of "pure contagion" or "fundamentals-based contagion", by trying to determine which factors might have been behind the detected contagion episodes. Our results suggest that contagion episodes are concentrated just after the inception of the EMU and matching the Global Financial Crisis, yielding more accurate and sensible indicators than those obtained from DCC-GARCH models used in prior studies. Indeed, they preceded the outburst of the Global Financial Crisis (causality intensification is detected from March 2008), and reached a peak during January-May 2011. Furthermore, they underline the coexistence of "pure" and "fundamentals-based contagion" during the recent European debt crisis

EMU sovereign debt market crisis: Fundamentals-based or pure contagion?

We empirically investigate whether the transmission of the recent crisis in euro area sovereign debt markets was due to fundamentals-based or pure contagion. To do so, we examine the behaviour of EMU sovereign bond yield spreads with respect to the German bund for a sample of both central and peripheral countries from January 1999 to December 2012. First we apply a dynamic approach to analyse the evolution of the degree of Grangercausality within the 90 pairs of sovereign bond yield spreads in our sample, in order to detect episodes of significantly increased causality between them (which we associate with contagion) and episodes of significantly reduced interconnection (which we associate with immunisation). We then use an ordered logit model to assess the determinants of the occurrence of the episodes detected. Our results suggest the importance of variables proxying market sentiment and of variables proxying macrofundamentals in determining contagion and immunisation outcomes. Therefore, our findings underline the coexistence of “pure” and “fundamentals-based contagion” during the recent European debt crisis

New empirical evidence on the impact of public debt on economic growth in EMU countries

New empirical evidence is presented on the impact of public debt on economic growth. To that end, we employ the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach using annual data from both central and peripheral countries of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) for the 1961-2015 period. In particular, we allow for different endogenously (data-based) regimes in the parameter relating the public debt variable to the real growth rate. Our results suggest that the impact of public debt on economic growth not only changes across EMU countries, but also over time

On the bi-directional causal relationship between public debt and economic growth in EMU countries

New evidence is presented on the possible existence of bi-directional causal relationships between public debt and economic growth in both central and peripheral countries of the European Economic and Monetary Union. We test for heterogeneity in the bi-directional Granger-causality across both time and space during the period between 1980 and 2013. The results suggest evidence of a "diabolic loop" between low economic growth and high public debt levels in Spain after 2009. For Belgium, Greece, Italy and the Netherlands debt has a negative effect over growth from an endogenously determined breakpoint and above a debt threshold ranging from 56% to 103% depending on the country