Search results for "Monetary"
showing 10 items of 502 documents
When the Blockchain Does Not Block: On Hackings and Uncertainty in the Cryptocurrency Market
2019
A total of 1.1 million bitcoin were stolen in the 2013–2017 period. Noting that the average price for Bitcoin in 2018 was USD 7,572 the corresponding monetary equivalent of losses is USD 8.9 billion which strongly shows the societal impact of this criminal activity. Investigating the response of the uncertainty of Bitcoin when hacking incidents occur, the results of this study point toward a delayed response in volatility. The volatility increases significantly only at day t+5. Incidents of hacking that occur in the Bitcoin market affect uncertainty for another cryptocurrency Ethereum too. Again, the evidence suggests a delayed response. However, Bitcoin and Ethereum do not exhibit asymmetr…
Substituting a Substitute Currency – The Case of Estonia
2002
This study evaluates substitution of foreign currency balances in Estonia, a transition economy neighbouring countries participating in EMU. The focus is on substitution between dollar and euro balances in the three basic functions of money - unit of account, store of value and means of payment. While traditional models for currency substitution concentrate on substitution between a domestic currency and aggregate foreign currency balances, we look for substitution between the dollar and the euro or euro-related foreign currency balances. We find substitution between dollarization and euroization to be asymmetric in the short run, which suggests that inertia, irreversibility and ratchet eff…
How Costly are Debt Crises?
2010
The aim of this paper is to assess the short- and medium-term impact of debt crises on GDP. Using an unbalanced panel of 154 countries from 1970 to 2008, the paper shows that debt crises produce significant and long-lasting output losses, reducing output by about 10 percent after eight years. The results also suggest that debt crises tend to be more detrimental than banking and currency crises. The significance of the results is robust to different specifications, identification and endogeneity checks, and datasets.
Repatriation of Debt in the Euro Crisis: Evidence for the Secondary Market Theory
2013
The Euro Crisis has marked a sharp inversion in the process of the European financial integration and, more specifically, a repatriation of countries' debt from foreign to domestic investors. Yet the drivers of the financial fragmentation remain unclear. This paper investigates the empirical patterns in light of competing theories of cross-border portfolio allocation. Three main empirical regularities stand out: i) the repatriation of debt occurred primarily in crisis countries; ii) the repatriation affected mainly public debt; iii) the public debt of crisis countries was reallocated to politically influential countries within the Euro Area. Standard theories of portfolio allocation and hom…
Public debt, money and consumer prices: a vector error correction model for Germany
2015
In the paper, the authors analyse the interaction between public debt and inflation including the mutual impulse response. The European sovereign debt crisis brought once again a focus onto the consequences of government debt in combination with an expansionary monetary policy for the development of consumer prices. Public deficits can lead to higher inflation rates if the money supply is expansionary. The high level of national debt, not only in the Euro-crisis countries, and the strong increase in the total assets of the European Central Bank, as a result of the unconventional monetary policy, have caused fears of inflating government debt. The transmission from public debt to inflation t…
Debt Sustainability and Fiscal Space in a Heterogeneous Monetary Union: Normal Times Vs the Zero Lower Bound
2020
In this paper we study fiscal policy effects and fiscal space for countries in a monetary union with different levels of public debt. We develop a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model of a two-country monetary union, calibrated to match the characteristics of Spain and Germany, in which debt sustainability is endogenously determined a la Bi (2012) to shape the responses of the risk premium on public debt. Policy shocks change the market’s expectation about future primary surplus, producing a direct effect on the sovereign risk premium and macroeconomic responses of the economy. In normal times the costs of a government spending driven fiscal consolidation in the high-debt cou…
Euro Area Structural Convergence? A Multi-Criterion Cluster Analysis
2015
Abstract This paper proposes a classification of the old member countries of the euro area in a structural data rich environment and run a convergence analysis using the same framework. First, we use a clustering approach and identify two structurally distinct clusters of countries that are not modified between 1999 and 2012: the South Countries Group (SCG) – composed of Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain – and the Other Countries Group (OCG). Second, we propose a convergence metrics and reach three key findings: (i) increase over time of the between-clusters׳ dispersion; (ii) diverging demographics and innovation performance into the OCG, and (iii) an unfortunate convergence towards high la…
The main reforms of the Spanish financial system
2012
This chapter aims to explore how the main legislation affecting the Spanish financial system evolved over the course of the 20th century. In terms of legislative developments, four main periods can be distinguished: the period from the early legislation in 1856 up until 1920; from 1920 through to the Civil War in 1936; Francoism from 1939 to 1975; and, finally, the phase of deregulation between 1975 and 2000. After a short introduction, we will examine below the first three of these four phases in chronological order.
From 2009 to 1929
2010
The current and still unfolding crisis of our economic system shows disturbing resemblances to the Great Depression in terms of magnitude, triggering mechanisms, and curative public interventions. This paper compares the experience, mechanisms, and consequences of these two crises in light of the analysis of Fisher, Keynes, and Minsky. This analysis proves very useful for understanding the triggering mechanisms of the current crisis, as well as its propagation mechanisms. It also addresses two dilemmas within the debate about the curative as well as preventive measures for getting out of the crisis and avoiding a new disaster: the dilemma of monetary activism and that of liquidity.
Testing for external sustainability under a monetary integration process. Does the Lawson doctrine apply to Europe?
2015
Monetary integration, and more specifically, the creation of a monetary union in Europe, raises new economic questions concerning its functioning and governance. In particular, we focus on the implications of high and persistent current account deficits for the economic performance of monetary union members in the medium term. Recent literature has argued that conventional measures of external sustainability are misleading because they omit the effects of capital variations on net foreign asset positions due to, among others, stock or debt market crises. In this paper we revisit external sustainability making use of the database developed by Lane and Milesi-Ferretti (2007) that includes the…