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Livia Chiţu

Monetary Policy

Division

Capital Markets/Financial Structure

Current Position

Senior Economist

Fields of interest

International Economics,Financial Economics,Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics

Email

livia.chitu@ecb.int

Education
2013-2016

PhD in Economics, Paris School of Economics - Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, Paris, France (Supervisor: Agnès Bénassy-Quéré; Referees: Hélène Rey, Ugo Panizza)

2005-2006

Masters degree M2 in Economics Banking and Finance, University of Toulouse, France

2004-2005

BA in Economics, University of Orléans, France

2001-2005

BA in Economics, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania

Professional experience
2022-

Senior Economist, Capital Markets/Financial Structure, Directorate General Monetary Policy, European Central Bank

2017-2021

Economist, International Policy Analysis Division, Directorate General International and European Relations, European Central Bank

2012-2017

Economist, International Relations and Cooperation Division, Directorate General International and European Relations , European Central Bank

2007-2012

Research Analyst, EU Neighbouring Region Division, Directorate General International and European Relations, European Central Bank

2006-2007

Research Analyst, EU Countries Division, Directorate General Economics, European Central Bank

2006

Trainee, Directorate General Market Infrastructure, European Central Bank

2005

Trainee, HVB Bank - UniCredit Tiriac Bank, Bucharest, Romania

2004

Trainee, BRD Société Générale Bank, Bucharest, Romania

Awards
2017

Washington Post Top 10 best work on global political economy for the paper "Mars or Mercury?The Geopolitics of International Currency Choice”, joint with B. Eichengreen and A. Mehl

2012

CFA Romania Award (Macroeconomics section)

2005

French Government Scholarship funding Master studies in Toulouse

2003

First National Prize at the International French for Business Contest “Le Mot d’Or”

21 March 2024
ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOX
Economic Bulletin Issue 2, 2024
Details
Abstract
Recent volatility in oil and gas prices has rekindled interest in understanding how much fundamental factors – global supply and demand – and non-fundamental factors contribute to price movements. This box constructs indices of speculation based on futures positions. Overall, speculation has only a limited role in both oil and gas price dynamics, although the degree of speculation is somewhat higher in European gas markets than in US gas markets. Empirical estimates also suggest that the role of speculation in amplifying the transmission of fundamental shocks to oil prices is limited, including in times of heightened geopolitical risk.
JEL Code
Q02 : Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics→General→Global Commodity Markets
F01 : International Economics→General→Global Outlook
F51 : International Economics→International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy→International Conflicts, Negotiations, Sanctions
2 November 2023
WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 2860
Details
Abstract
We study the heterogeneous impact of jointly identified monetary policy and global riskshocks on corporate funding costs. We disentangle these two shocks in a structural BayesianVector Autoregression framework and investigate their respective effects on funding costsof heterogeneous firms using micro-data for the US. We tease out mechanisms underlyingthe effects by contrasting financial frictions arising from traditional asset-based collateralconstraints with the recent earnings-based borrowing constraint hypothesis, differentiatingfirms across leverage and earnings. Our empirical evidence strongly supports the earnings-basedborrowing constraint hypothesis. We find that global risk shocks have stronger andmore heterogeneous effects on corporate funding costs which depend on firms’ positionwithin the earnings distribution.
JEL Code
G12 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→Asset Pricing, Trading Volume, Bond Interest Rates
E43 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Interest Rates: Determination, Term Structure, and Effects
E52 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Monetary Policy
28 September 2022
THE ECB BLOG
Details
JEL Code
D53 : Microeconomics→General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium→Financial Markets
E44 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
G12 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→Asset Pricing, Trading Volume, Bond Interest Rates
G15 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→International Financial Markets
23 March 2022
ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOX
Economic Bulletin Issue 2, 2022
Details
Abstract
Notwithstanding the recent pick-up in corporate spreads in some markets, global corporate bond prices stand close to historical highs amid relatively low credit risk premia, particularly in lower-rated segments. At the same time, the COVID‑19 pandemic has increased the vulnerability and indebtedness of many firms around the world, with corporate credit ratings remaining below pre‑pandemic levels and some firms exhibiting relatively weak profitability. The model-based valuation analysis presented in this box suggests that the strong overall decline in global corporate bond spreads since the peak of the pandemic has been only partly driven by the market’s assessment of improving credit quality and could, to a large extent, be related to the strength of investors’ risk appetite. Based on analysis of bond-level valuations in the US corporate market, the box also shows that market-wide risk-off shocks have the potential to significantly increase corporate spreads and expected default probabilities, particularly for the weakest firms.
JEL Code
G12 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→Asset Pricing, Trading Volume, Bond Interest Rates
G14 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→Information and Market Efficiency, Event Studies, Insider Trading
16 November 2021
FINANCIAL STABILITY REVIEW - BOX
Financial Stability Review Issue 2, 2021
Details
Abstract
Fragilities created by the interaction of stretched valuations and corporate balance sheet vulnerabilities may represent a risk to financial stability. Corporate asset prices have soared at the same time as the pandemic shock has prompted an increase in the vulnerability and indebtedness of many corporates. In the current environment, where balance sheet fragilities depend on policy support and uncertainty about the recovery is still elevated, corporate vulnerabilities could re-emerge and stock and bond market prices may be more sensitive to reversals in global risk appetite. This box examines the increased sensitivity of US corporate markets to risk-off shocks when corporate vulnerabilities are high and considers the implications from a euro area perspective.
JEL Code
G12 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→Asset Pricing, Trading Volume, Bond Interest Rates
G15 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→International Financial Markets
G32 : Financial Economics→Corporate Finance and Governance→Financing Policy, Financial Risk and Risk Management, Capital and Ownership Structure, Value of Firms, Goodwill
19 May 2021
FINANCIAL STABILITY REVIEW - BOX
Financial Stability Review Issue 1, 2021
Details
Abstract
This box assesses potential vulnerabilities facing large emerging market economies (EMEs) more than a year after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the risks posed to euro area financial stability. It shows that financial conditions in EMEs have weathered the pandemic well so far, despite an intense but short-lived stress episode when the pandemic first emerged. While many EMEs benefit from more solid fundamentals than in past crises, high debt burdens and exposures to the US dollar and foreign investors may pose challenges for some countries. A structural decomposition of capital flows shows that global factors have been the most important driver of the recovery of EME capital flows over the past year. Looking ahead, risks to EME financial stability could arise from a reversal in global risk sentiment, as well as from rising yields in the United States and other advanced economies and US dollar appreciation. Euro area financial stability could be vulnerable to wider turbulence affecting a number of EMEs, although country-specific shocks do not appear to have a sizeable impact.
JEL Code
F30 : International Economics→International Finance→General
6 November 2019
ECONOMIC BULLETIN - ARTICLE
Economic Bulletin Issue 7, 2019
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Abstract
This article provides a review of the global trends in central banks’ foreign currency reserve holdings in terms of their size, adequacy and composition, before examining the ECB’s foreign currency reserves and how these reserves are managed.
JEL Code
E58 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Central Banks and Their Policies
F31 : International Economics→International Finance→Foreign Exchange
F55 : International Economics→International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy→International Institutional Arrangements
G11 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→Portfolio Choice, Investment Decisions
G23 : Financial Economics→Financial Institutions and Services→Non-bank Financial Institutions, Financial Instruments, Institutional Investors
Q02 : Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics→General→Global Commodity Markets
13 June 2019
THE INTERNATIONAL ROLE OF THE EURO - BOX
The international role of the euro 2019
22 February 2019
WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 2246
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Abstract
We analyze the role of economic and security considerations in bilateral trade agreements. We use the pre-World War I period to test whether trade agreements are governed by pecuniary factors, such as distance and other frictions measured by gravity covariates, or by geopolitical factors. While there is support for both hypotheses, we find that defense pacts boost the probability of trade agreements by as much as 20 percentage points. Our estimates imply that were the U.S. to alienate its geopolitical allies, the likelihood and benefits of successful bilateral agreements would fall significantly. Trade creation from an agreement between the U.S. and E.U. countries would decline by about 0.6 percent of total U.S. exports.
JEL Code
F13 : International Economics→Trade→Trade Policy, International Trade Organizations
N20 : Economic History→Financial Markets and Institutions→General, International, or Comparative
19 December 2018
ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOX
Economic Bulletin Issue 8, 2018
Details
Abstract
Against the background of financial market volatility in some emerging market economies (EMEs) since April, this box reviews key vulnerabilities in EMEs. Specifically, it assesses their resilience to external shocks compared to previous crisis episodes.
JEL Code
F3 : International Economics→International Finance
F4 : International Economics→Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance
25 January 2016
WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 1880
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Abstract
This paper assesses whether international reserve accumulation can be inflationary because of moral hazard and incentive effects. It tests the hypothesis that an increase in international reserves may incentivise countries to become complacent and pursue less prudent policies due to the perceived safety provided by higher reserve holdings. The paper uses a unique natural experiment to solve the endogeneity problem between reserve accumulation and macroeconomic developments, namely the 2009 general allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDR). This allocation
JEL Code
F30 : International Economics→International Finance→General
13 August 2014
WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 1715
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Abstract
We investigate whether the role of national currencies as international reserves was fundamentally altered by the shift from fixed to flexible exchange rates (what we call the
JEL Code
F30 : International Economics→International Finance→General
N20 : Economic History→Financial Markets and Institutions→General, International, or Comparative
2 July 2014
WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 1686
Details
Abstract
This paper reconstructs the forgotten history of mutual assistance among Reserve Banks in the early years of the Federal Reserve System. We use data on accommodation operations by the 12 Reserve Banks between 1913 and 1960 which enabled them to mutualise their gold reserves in emergency situations. Gold reserve sharing was especially important in response to liquidity crises and bank runs. Cooperation among reserve banks was essential for the cohesion and stability of the US monetary union. But fortunes could change quickly, with emergency recipients of gold turning into providers. Because regional imbalances did not grow endlessly, instead narrowing when region-specific liquidity shocks subsided, mutual assistance created only limited tensions. These findings speak to the current debate over TARGET2 balances in Europe.
JEL Code
F30 : International Economics→International Finance→General
N20 : Economic History→Financial Markets and Institutions→General, International, or Comparative
12 March 2014
WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 1651
Details
Abstract
Conventional wisdom has it that network effects are strong in markets for homogeneous goods, leading to the dominance of one settlement currency in such markets. The alleged dominance of the dollar in global oil markets is said to epitomize this phenomenon. We question this presumption with evidence for earlier periods showing that several national currencies have simultaneously played substantial roles in global oil markets. European oil import payments before and after World War II were split between the dollar and non-dollar currencies, mainly sterling. Differences in use of the dollar across countries were associated with trade linkages with the United States and the size of the importing country. That several national currencies could simultaneously play a role in international oil settlements suggests that a shift from the current dollar-based system toward a multi-polar system in the period ahead is not impossible.
JEL Code
F30 : International Economics→International Finance→General
N20 : Economic History→Financial Markets and Institutions→General, International, or Comparative
2 July 2013
THE INTERNATIONAL ROLE OF THE EURO - SPECIAL FEATURE
The international role of the euro 2013
24 September 2012
WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 1473
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Abstract
This paper investigates whether, and if so why, the recent ‘Great Recession’ was more severe in unofficially dollarised/euroised economies than in other economies. To that end, the paper builds on a novel dataset on unofficial dollarisation/euroisation to test whether the latter was a determinant of the extent of the growth collapse in 2007-09 in a cross-section of around 60 emerging market economies. Both OLS and Bayesian model averaging estimates suggest that unofficial dollarisation/euroisation was an important contributor to the severity of the crisis, once other of its well-established determinants are taken into account, including fast pre-crisis credit growth, current account deficits, trade and financial openness, market regulation, international openness of the banking sector and GDP per capita. Moreover, the adverse impact of unofficial dollarisation/euroisation is found to have been transmitted through the main channels traditionally highlighted in the literature, i.e. currency mismatches, reduced monetary policy autonomy and limited lender of last resort ability, all of which became more binding constraints in the midst of the crisis. The results help to shed light on the long-standing debate regarding the conduct of monetary policy in unofficially dollarised/euroised economies in crisis times.
JEL Code
G01 : Financial Economics→General→Financial Crises
G21 : Financial Economics→Financial Institutions and Services→Banks, Depository Institutions, Micro Finance Institutions, Mortgages
F30 : International Economics→International Finance→General
17 September 2012
WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 1466
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Abstract
We analyze persistence in patterns of bilateral financial investment using data on US investors’ holdings of foreign bonds. We document a “history effect” in which the pattern of holdings seven decades ago continues to influence holdings today. 10 to 15% of the cross-country variation in US investors’ foreign bond holdings is explained by holdings 70 years ago, plausibly reflecting fixed costs of market entry and exit. This effect is twice as large for bonds denominated in currencies other than the dollar, suggesting the existence of even higher fixed costs of initiating US foreign investment in currencies other than the dollar. Our findings point to history and path dependence as key sources of financial market segmentation.
JEL Code
F30 : International Economics→International Finance→General
N20 : Economic History→Financial Markets and Institutions→General, International, or Comparative
7 May 2012
WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 1433
Details
Abstract
This paper offers new evidence on the emergence of the dollar as the leading international currency, focusing on its role as currency of denomination in global bond markets. We show that the dollar overtook sterling much earlier than commonly supposed, as early as in 1929. Financial market development appears to have been the main factor helping the dollar to surmount sterling
JEL Code
F30 : International Economics→International Finance→General
N20 : Economic History→Financial Markets and Institutions→General, International, or Comparative
2024
How Global Currencies Work: Past, Present, and Future (Spanish Edition)
  • Barry Eichengreen, Arnaud Mehl and Livia Chiţu
2024
SUERF Policy Brief
  • L. Chiţu, M. Grothe, T. Schulze, I. Van Robays
2023
IMF Working Paper No. 196, September 2023
  • L. Chiţu, M. Grothe, T. Schulze, I. Van Robays
2021
The World Economy
  • Eichengreen, B., Mehl, A. and Chiţu, L.
2021
International Finance
  • Livia Chiţu
2019
VoxEU article
  • Eichengreen, B., Mehl, A. and Chiţu, L.
2019
International Role of the Euro Report - Box
  • Livia Chiţu
2019
Chinese version, 1st edition
How Global Currencies Work: Past, Present, and Future
  • Barry Eichengreen, Arnaud Mehl and Livia Chiţu
2019
Economic Policy
  • Eichengreen, B., Mehl, A. and Chiţu, L.
2018
VoxEU article
  • Eichengreen, B., Mehl, A. and Chiţu, L.
2017
NBER Woking Paper, No. 24145
  • Eichengreen, B., Mehl, A. and Chiţu, L.
2017
Princeton University Press, Book (English version, 1st edition)
  • Barry Eichengreen, Arnaud Mehl and Livia Chiţu
2016
ECB Working Paper, No. 1880, January 2016
  • Livia Chiţu
2016
Canadian Journal of Economics
  • Eichengreen, B., Chiţu, L. and Mehl, A.
2016
IMF Economic Review
  • Eichengreen, B., Chiţu, L. and Mehl, A.
2015
Journal of Economic History
  • Eichengreen, B., Mehl, A., Chiţu, L. and Richardson, G.
2014
Journal of International Money and Finance
  • Chiţu, L., Eichengreen, B. and Mehl, A.
2014
Journal of Development Economics
  • Chiţu, L., Eichengreen, B. and Mehl, A.
2014
NBER Working Papers 20267, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Eichengreen, B., Mehl, A., Chiţu, L. and Richardson, G.
2014
Globalization Institute Working Papers 201, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
  • Eichengreen, B., Chiţu, L. and Mehl, A.
2014
VoxEU article
  • Eichengreen, B., Mehl, A. and Chiţu, L.
2014
VoxEU article
  • Eichengreen, B., Mehl, A. and Chiţu, L.
2013
Comparative Economic Studies
  • Livia Chiţu
2013
NBER Working Papers 18697, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Chiţu, L., Eichengreen, B. and Mehl, A.
2012
NBER Working Papers 18097, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Chiţu, L., Eichengreen, B. and Mehl, A.
2012
VoxEU article
  • Eichengreen, B., Mehl, A. and Chiţu, L.
2012
VoxEU article
  • Eichengreen, B., Mehl, A. and Chiţu, L.
2006
Teora, Romania
French for economists (Book)
  • Corina Cilian-Lascu, Alexandra Coiculescu, Livia Chiţu and Otilia Fagurel