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Alina Bobasu
- 23 October 2024
- RESEARCH BULLETIN - No. 123Details
- Abstract
- This article analyses how monetary policy shapes the aggregate and distributional effects of an energy price shock. Based on the observed heterogeneity in consumption exposures to energy and household wealth, we build a quantitative small open-economy Heterogeneous Agent New Keynesian (HANK) model that matches salient features of the euro area data. The model incorporates energy as both a consumption good for households with non-homothetic preferences as well as a factor input into production with input complementarities. Independently of policy, energy price shocks always reduce aggregate consumption. Households with little wealth are more adversely affected through both a decline in labour income as well as negative direct price effects. Active policy responses raising rates in response to inflation amplify aggregate outcomes through a reduction in aggregate demand, but speed up the recovery by enabling households to rebuild wealth through higher returns on savings. However, low-wealth households are also adversely affected by having less savings from which to rebuild wealth and instead lose out due to further declining labour income.
- JEL Code
- E52 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Monetary Policy
F41 : International Economics→Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance→Open Economy Macroeconomics
Q43 : Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics→Energy→Energy and the Macroeconomy
- 26 September 2024
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 6, 2024Details
- Abstract
- Consumer confidence in the euro area plummeted when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has remained at a low level since then, despite some recovery. This box analyses the underlying factors that explain this subdued consumer confidence and assesses the implications of persistently low confidence for private consumption going forward. It finds that rising inflation was the initial cause of the decline in consumer confidence compared with the pre-invasion period, followed later by the increasingly negative effects of higher borrowing costs coupled with declining house prices. Moreover, the fact that consumer confidence is still subdued suggests that private consumption will only improve moderately in the short term.
- JEL Code
- E21 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy→Consumption, Saving, Wealth
E27 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy→Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications
E29 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy→Other
- 2 August 2024
- WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 2967Details
- Abstract
- We study how monetary policy shapes the aggregate and distributional effects of an energy price shock. Based on the observed heterogeneity in consumption exposures to energy and household wealth, we build a quantitative small open-economy HANK model that matches salient features of the Euro Area data. Our model incorporates energy as both a consumption good for households with non-homothetic preferences as well as a factor input into production with input complementarities. Independently of policy energy price shocks always reduce aggregate consumption. Households with little wealth are more adversely affected through both a decline in labor income as well as negative direct price effects. Active policy responses raising rates in response to inflation amplifies aggregate outcomes through a reduction in aggregate demand, but speeds up the recovery by enabling households to rebuild wealth through higher returns on savings. However, low-wealth households are further adversely affected as they have little savings to rebuild wealth from and instead loose due to further declining labor income.
- JEL Code
- E52 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Monetary Policy
F41 : International Economics→Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance→Open Economy Macroeconomics
Q43 : Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics→Energy→Energy and the Macroeconomy
- 30 July 2024
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - ARTICLEEconomic Bulletin Issue 5, 2024Details
- Abstract
- This article introduces the Distributional Wealth Accounts (DWA) developed by the European System of Central Banks and explores some of their main features and use cases. First, it describes the methodology behind DWA compilation, detailing data sources, estimation techniques and the significance of the dataset for economic analysis. It then highlights key stylised evidence on the changes in the wealth distribution of households over time and across countries. In this context, it highlights the heterogeneous portfolio composition and the varied effects of housing and financial asset prices on wealth accumulation, and their implications for inequality. Finally, the article investigates how the recent surge in inflation and the subsequent monetary policy tightening have affected the distribution of wealth.
- JEL Code
- E4 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates
E44 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
E5 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit
E52 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Monetary Policy
G21 : Financial Economics→Financial Institutions and Services→Banks, Depository Institutions, Micro Finance Institutions, Mortgages
- 20 March 2024
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 2, 2024Details
- Abstract
- This box investigates how households have responded to the 2021-23 inflationary episode using evidence from the ECB’s Consumer Expectations Survey. The findings suggest that households have primarily adjusted their consumption spending to cope with higher inflation. However, noteworthy adjustments were also observed through the saving and income margins. The decline in the saving rate in 2022 and 2023 was mainly attributed to increased spending on recreation and travel, mostly driven by high-income consumers.
- JEL Code
- E21 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy→Consumption, Saving, Wealth
D14 : Microeconomics→Household Behavior and Family Economics→Household Saving; Personal Finance
D15 : Microeconomics→Household Behavior and Family Economics
- 16 May 2023
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - ARTICLEEconomic Bulletin Issue 3, 2023Details
- Abstract
- This article presents evidence on the distributional effects of the recent surge in inflation on households. Households experience inflation differently depending on their spending allocation. When the prices of essential goods rise, low-income households are particularly affected. Households also have different exposures to inflationary shocks depending on the income they allocate to consumption, their income risk and the composition of their wealth. In the current inflationary episode, the resilience of the labour market and the provision of fiscal support have so far tempered some of the adverse distributional consequences of high inflation on social welfare.
- JEL Code
- E01 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→General→Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth, Environmental Accounts
E21 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy→Consumption, Saving, Wealth
E31 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles→Price Level, Inflation, Deflation
E64 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook→Incomes Policy, Price Policy
F41 : International Economics→Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance→Open Economy Macroeconomics
- 27 March 2023
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 2, 2023Details
- Abstract
- This box assesses the uneven economic effects of the recent surge in energy prices across households and firms in the euro area. The box first uses disaggregated data to disentangle the effects of the deterioration in the energy terms of trade on final expenditures and aggregate income, allocating the implied purchasing power losses across the household income distribution. The box then uses structural economic models to identify the energy price shock underlying the recent terms-of-trade deterioration and to gauge its direct, indirect and second-round effects on the overall economy. As regards the results, the different exposures of households to higher energy costs and lower income indicate a relatively larger impact of the energy terms-of-trade deterioration on lower-income households. The direct and indirect effects of the energy price shock mainly impacted private consumption on the expenditure side and non-energy sectors on the income side. The second-round effects spread the impact more evenly across private consumption and investment, with the government partially shielding private sector disposable income.
- JEL Code
- E31 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles→Price Level, Inflation, Deflation
E21 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy→Consumption, Saving, Wealth
- 11 January 2023
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 8, 2022Details
- Abstract
- This box examines the impact of the recent increase in energy prices on real consumer spending in the euro area. The empirical framework relies on a structural vector autoregression (SVAR) model and identifies adverse energy supply shocks that lead to a deterioration in the terms of trade, as captured by the ratio between the GDP deflator and the private consumption deflator, and a decline in real consumer spending. It finds that energy supply shocks have significantly weighed on total private consumption in recent quarters, with durable goods consumption being particularly affected.
- JEL Code
- E31 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles→Price Level, Inflation, Deflation
E21 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy→Consumption, Saving, Wealth
- 23 June 2022
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 4, 2022Details
- Abstract
- Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has hit economic confidence and increased uncertainty in the euro area. This box illustrates how the increased uncertainty is being transmitted to the economy, adopting a two-step approach. In the first step, the uncertainty shock is identified using a structural vector autoregression model with sign and narrative restrictions. In the second step, the identified shock is used to compute losses in domestic demand, employing local projection methods. The box shows that the uncertainty shock witnessed in the period to April will have a material adverse impact on domestic demand, estimated to be larger for business investment than for consumption. Across sectors, the effect is estimated to be larger for manufacturing than for services and larger for durable goods than for non‑durables.
- JEL Code
- E21 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy→Consumption, Saving, Wealth
E32 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles→Business Fluctuations, Cycles
- 28 April 2022
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 3, 2022Details
- Abstract
- This box reviews the dynamics of household savings as derived from deposit flows across the wealth distribution from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first quarter of 2020 to the surge in inflation that started in the second quarter of 2021. An empirical model disentangles the underlying drivers of household deposit flows across the wealth distribution. Pandemic-related restrictions initially led to an increase in deposit flows, while increases in inflation arising mostly from cost-push shocks subsequently weighed on deposit flows, raising savings inequality in both cases. It is likely that developments in deposit dynamics and savings inequality will continue to be shaped by pandemic-related restrictions and cost-push inflation, as well as uncertainty caused by the war in Ukraine.
- JEL Code
- D12 : Microeconomics→Household Behavior and Family Economics→Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
D14 : Microeconomics→Household Behavior and Family Economics→Household Saving; Personal Finance
R20 : Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics→Household Analysis→General
Q11 : Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics→Agriculture→Aggregate Supply and Demand Analysis, Prices
- 2 August 2021
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 5, 2021Details
- Abstract
- The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has led to the accumulation of a large stock of household savings across advanced economies. Owing to their large size, the savings accumulated since early 2020 could significantly influence the post-pandemic recovery path. The central question is whether households will spend heavily once pandemic-related restrictions are lifted and consumer confidence returns, or whether other motives (e.g. precautionary, deleveraging) will keep households from spending their accumulated excess savings. This box reviews the main economic arguments supporting the hypothesis that any reduction in the accumulated stock of savings is likely to be limited in the medium term. However, given the considerable uncertainty surrounding these arguments, it also illustrates two alternative scenarios for the stock of the accumulated savings (a “cut-back” scenario and a “build-up” scenario) and assesses their possible implications for the global economic outlook.
- JEL Code
- F32 : International Economics→International Finance→Current Account Adjustment, Short-Term Capital Movements
F41 : International Economics→Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance→Open Economy Macroeconomics
- 3 May 2021
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 3, 2021Details
- Abstract
- A rapid recovery in activity and trade has lengthened supplier delivery times, while international shipping costs have also increased. This box analyses the factors driving the surge in shipping costs by means of a Structural VAR model. It concludes that recent developments reflect rising demand and, to a smaller degree, supply constraints in the shipping industry. At the same time, the impact of rising shipping costs on overall consumer prices is expected to be limited.
- JEL Code
- C11 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General→Bayesian Analysis: General
F01 : International Economics→General→Global Outlook
F41 : International Economics→Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance→Open Economy Macroeconomics
- 26 April 2021
- WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 2541Details
- Abstract
- This paper sheds light on the impact of global macroeconomic uncertainty on the euro area economy. We build on the methodology proposed by Jurado et al. (2015) and estimate global as well as country-specific measures of economic uncertainty for fifteen key euro area trade partners and the euro area. Our measures display a clear counter-cyclical pattern and line up well to a wide range of historical events generally associated with heightened uncertainty. In addition, following Piffer and Podstawski (2018), we estimate a Proxy SVAR where we instrument uncertainty shocks with changes in the price of gold around specific past events. We find that, historically, global uncertainty shocks have been important drivers of fluctuations in euro area economic activity, with one standard deviation increase in the identified uncertainty shock subtracting around 0.15 percentage points from euro area industrial production on impact.
- JEL Code
- D81 : Microeconomics→Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty→Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
C11 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General→Bayesian Analysis: General
C55 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Econometric Modeling→Modeling with Large Data Sets?
E32 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles→Business Fluctuations, Cycles
F41 : International Economics→Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance→Open Economy Macroeconomics
F62 : International Economics→Economic Impacts of Globalization→Macroeconomic Impacts
- 4 February 2021
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 1, 2021Details
- Abstract
- This box studies the relative impact on inflation of pandemic-induced demand and supply constraints for key advanced economies outside the euro area by using granular data on consumption expenditures and prices and a structural Bayesian Vector Autoregression (BVAR) framework. It finds that during the initial phase of the pandemic, consumer price inflation was driven more by demand-sensitive components and less by supply-sensitive ones. The structural analysis confirms a dominant role for demand shocks in the pandemic. It concludes that the impact of pandemic-related supply constraints on inflation appears limited to date. Yet, more granular analysis is needed to assess the consequences of the pandemic for the drivers of inflation.
- JEL Code
- C11 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General→Bayesian Analysis: General
E31 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles→Price Level, Inflation, Deflation
E32 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles→Business Fluctuations, Cycles
O11 : Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth→Economic Development→Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
O40 : Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth→Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity→General
- 11 August 2020
- WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 2451Details
- Abstract
- In this paper we assess the merits of financial condition indices constructed using simple averages versus a more sophisticated alternative that uses factor models with time varying parameters. Our analysis is based on data for 18 advanced and emerging economies at a monthly frequency covering about 70% of the world’s GDP. We use four criteria to assess the performance of these indicators, namely quantile regressions, Structural Vector Autoregressions, the ability of the indices to predict banking crises and their response to US monetary policy shocks. We find that averaging across the indicators of interest, using judgemental but intuitive weights, produces financial condition indices that are not inferior to, and actually perform better than, those constructed with more sophisticated statistical methods.
- JEL Code
- E32 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles→Business Fluctuations, Cycles
E44 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
C11 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General→Bayesian Analysis: General
C55 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Econometric Modeling→Modeling with Large Data Sets?
- 6 February 2020
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 1, 2020Details
- Abstract
- Over the past year the global economy has transitioned from a robust and synchronised expansion to a widespread slowdown. Global growth has weakened on the back of soft investment, which was also a key driver of global trade’s sharp fall into contractionary territory in the first half of 2019 (see Chart A). The slowdown in global investment and trade has occurred in an environment of rising trade tensions between the United States and China, slowing Chinese demand, (geo-)political tensions, Brexit and idiosyncratic stresses in several emerging economies, with rising uncertainty magnifying the negative impact. Against this backdrop, this box assesses the role of uncertainty in the recent slowdown of global investment and trade.
- JEL Code
- F21 : International Economics→International Factor Movements and International Business→International Investment, Long-Term Capital Movements
F44 : International Economics→Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance→International Business Cycles
C54 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Econometric Modeling→Quantitative Policy Modeling
- 5 August 2019
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 5, 2019Details
- Abstract
- While both global activity and trade have been declining since mid-2018, world trade has slowed particularly sharply. This box investigates the reasons behind the decline in global trade and its decoupling from economic activity. This is largely explained by a turnaround in the most trade-intensive components of global demand, such as investment, exacerbated by rising global uncertainty and tighter financing conditions. From a production perspective, the decline in investment was reflected in a sharp slowdown in manufacturing output.
- JEL Code
- F44 : International Economics→Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance→International Business Cycles
F14 : International Economics→Trade→Empirical Studies of Trade
- 21 March 2019
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 2, 2019Details
- Abstract
- This box looks at the current phase of the business cycle in major non-euro area advanced economies with a view to assessing the factors behind the transition to weaker growth.It shows that in several key advanced economies the output gap is currently in positive territory, with activity still expanding faster than potential. Although growth in non-euro area advanced economies has been slowing, signals of a severe slowdown or recession appear contained. This notwithstanding, downside risks abound and have increased lately.
- JEL Code
- E32 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles→Business Fluctuations, Cycles
F44 : International Economics→Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance→International Business Cycles