The fifth wave of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) offers an updated and comprehensive view of Maltese households' financial position in the post-pandemic period. Based on microdata collected for 2023, this edition introduces two analytical dimensions: in addition to the...

This study evaluates the impact of Malta's 2014 childcare reform, a universal Free Childcare Scheme for children aged 3 months to 3 years, on female employment. Using a difference-in-differences (DD) framework and matched DD models, I find that the reform may have increased the probability of...

This paper studies how conventional monetary policy affects household wealth in Malta across the wealth distribution. We combine euro-area macroeconomic responses to a monetary policy shock with household-level microdata on assets, liabilities, income, and consumption from the 2023 Maltese...

This paper investigates the transmission of monetary policy to financial markets within the Euro area, focusing on the role of uncertainty. While previous research has extensively examined the effects of changes in expected policy rates through event studies of European Central Banks (ECB)...

In this paper, we study the role of wealth transfers in shaping homeownership in Malta. Leveraging data from four waves of the Maltese Household Finance and Consumption Survey, we perform a logistic regression to investigate how financial inflows in the form of gifts or inheritances, affect (i)...

The withdrawal of public sector intervention from Malta's housing market commenced in the early 1990s, while financial markets were liberalised in 1994. These developments were likely behind the significant expansion in credit and house price appreciation experienced over the past two decades,...

This study examines Malta's peer-to-peer (P2P) rental market by comparing rental listings from Facebook Marketplace and an aggregation of real estate agencies' adverts, while the Housing Authority's official register is used as the benchmark characterising the local rental market. Using a...

This paper presents the findings derived from a comprehensive survey conducted by the Central Bank of Malta, in collaboration with the National Statistics Office, with the aim of analysing payment habits in Malta. The research explores individuals' perspectives on various aspects, including...

In this paper we construct a bipartite network model for the Maltese banking sector and identify communities of banks based on overlapping credit exposures. By leveraging confidential supervisory bank-level data on total exposures, we identify four distinct bank clusters and compute relevant...

Does the maturity of the relevant risk-free rate influence the strength of monetary policy passthrough to interest rates on new loans? To address this question, we present novel empirical evidence on lending practices across all euro area countries, using AnaCredit data covering nearly seven...