The Effects of Joining a Monetary Union on Output and Inflation Variability in Accession Countries

New EU member countries are supposed to adopt the Euro as soon as economic convergence is achieved. This paper analyzes the effects of joining a monetary union on output and inflation variability in small acceding countries. An asymmetric macroeconomic two-country model is specified and combined with two different monetary policy regimes: (i) national monetary policy, (ii) monetary union. The performance of the two regimes is analyzed in terms of inflation and output variability for a broad range of structural parameter specifications.European monetary union; open economy macroeconomic models; optimal monetary policy

Has the Euro Increased International Price Elasticities?

This paper analyzes the role of common data problems when identifying structural breaks in small samples. Most notably, we survey small sample properties of the most commonly applied endogenous break tests developed by Brown, Durbin, and Evans (1975) and Zeileis (2004), Nyblom (1989) and Hansen (1992), and Andrews, Lee, and Ploberger (1996). Power and size properties are derived using Monte Carlo simulations. Results emphasize that mostly the CUSUM type tests are affected by the presence of heteroscedasticity, whereas the individual parameter Nyblom test and AvgLM test are proved to be highly robust. However, each test is significantly affected by leptokurtosis. Contrarily to other tests, where skewness is far more problematic than kurtosis, it has no additional effect for any of the endogenous break tests we analyze. Concerning overall robustness the Nyblom test performs best, while being almost on par to more recently developed tests in terms of power.European Integration, introduction of the Euro, import price elasticity, panel data, Kalman-filter, structural vector autoregression

Transmission of nominal exchange rate changes to export prices and trade flows and implications for exchange rate policy

We discuss how the welfare ranking of fixed and flexible exchange rate regimes in a New Open Economy Macroeconomics model depends on the interplay between the degree of exchange rate pass-through and the elasticity of substitution between home and foreign goods. We identify combinations of these two parameters for which flexible and for which fixed exchange rates are superior with respect to welfare as measured by a representative household's utility level. We estimate the two parameters for six non-EMU European countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, United Kingdom) using a heterogeneous dynamic panel approach. --Elasticity of substitution between home and foreign goods,exchange rate pass-through,exchange rate regime choice,expenditure switching effect,heterogeneous dynamic panel,New Open Economy Macroeconomics

Identifying Sources of Business Cycle Fluctuations in Germany 1975–1998

In this paper, we estimate a small New Keynesian dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model for Germany for the period from 1975 to 1998 and use it to identify the structural shocks, which have driven the business cycle. For this purpose we apply indirect inference methods, that is we specify the parameters of the theoretical model such that simulated data mimics observed data as closely as possible. In addition to the identification of structural shocks, we uncover the unobservable output gap, which is a prominent indicator in business cycle analysis. Furthermore,we show to which extent each identified shock has contributed to the business cycle fluctuations.Business cycle accounting, dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models, Germany, indirect inference, New Keynesian macroeconomics

Agrarrohstoffpreise und Lebensmittelpreise in armen Ländern

In der Politik und in den Medien wird darüber diskutiert, ob spekulativer Handel mit Agrarrohstoffen den Hunger in der Welt vermehrt. In diesem Aufsatz wird untersucht, in welchem Umfang sich Schwankungen von Agrarrohstoffpreisen auf nationale Verbraucherpreise für Lebensmittel in Indien als einem großen Land mit einem großen Anteil an armen Menschen übertragen. Es wird gezeigt, dass Agrarrohstoffpreisschwankungen mit einem Quartal Verzögerung signifikante Effekte auf die Verbraucherpreisinflation für Lebensmittel und die Verbraucherpreisinflation insgesamt in Indien haben. Quantitativ bedeutend waren diese Effekte etwa 2007/2008 und 2010/2011. Aufgrund der restriktiven Reaktion der indischen Zentralbank auf einen Anstieg der Verbraucherpreisinflation kommt es zusätzlich zu negativen Auswirkungen auf die Konjunktur. Allerdings sind andere Faktoren für die Schwankungen der Lebensmittelpreise in Indien wesentlich bedeutender

Uncovered Interest Rate Parity and Analysis of Monetary Convergence of Potential EMU Accession Countries

This paper analyzes deviations from uncovered interest rate parity which are interpreted as indicator of the substitutability of currencies. Backward recursive statistical tests and error correction models are applied to study the co-movement of interest rates, and rolling regressions are used to illustrate size and volatility of country specific risk premia. In accordance to their degree of monetary integration with the Euro area, EU acceding and accession countries are divided into three groups. Additionally, the results show that uncovered interest rate parity is well supported by empirical evidence if it is augmented by a country-specific risk premium

Aktuelle Trends: Nach Einführung des Mindestlohns: Höherer Stundenlohn, aber geringere Arbeitszeit bei Ungelernten

Ein Jahr nach Einführung des flächendeckenden gesetzlichen Mindestlohns in Höhe von 8,50 Euro brutto je Stunde ist die Diskussion über die Beschäftigungseffekte dieser Maßnahme in vollem Gange. Die momentan verfügbaren Daten deuten zwar nicht darauf hin, dass Arbeitsplätze in großem Umfang weggefallen sind, aber die wöchentliche Arbeitszeit Ungelernter ist in vom Mindestlohn besonders betroffenen Bundesländern gesunken

Money and prices: An I(2) analysis for the euro area

The concept of integrated stochastic processes is widely used in empirical macroeconomics; and cointegration analysis is an important framework to analyze economic time series both in single equation and in system approaches. This framework is not only suited to study the relationships between variables that are integrated of order one, denoted by I(1), but also to analyze variables that are integrated of higher order. However, in the literature the analysis of I(1) models is much more popular than the analysis of I(2) models although there is some evidence that relevant economic times series like nominal money and the price level in the euro area are integrated of order two. This is confirmed by applying tests on double unit roots. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the analysis of I(2) variables and to show how this technique can be applied to explore the relationship between money and prices. The leading indicator property of money for prices, money demand analysis and the role of money in the transmission mechanism are addressed. It turns out that the I(2) analysis provides a considerable empirical method for extracting information from monetary aggregates for monetary policy purposes