In this paper a New Keynesian model is described and partially estimated for the euro area. The model is then used to analyze the stabilizing properties of alternative monetary policy rules for the euro area: instrument (Taylor-type) rules and targeting rules. Our main finding is that if...

The paper presents a theory of nominal asset prices for competitively owned oil. Focusing on monetary effects, with flexible oil prices the US dollar oil price should follow the aggregate US price level. But with rigid nominal oil prices, the nominal oil price jumps proportionally to nominal...

Current account imbalances and their sustainability are among the most debated international policy issues. Through the recently designed External Balance Assessment methodology (EBA), the IMF estimates the impact of several countries’ fundamentals and policies on their current account...

This paper presents an empirical analysis of transmission rates from exchange rate movements to import prices, across countries and product categories, in the euro area over the last fifteen years. Our results show that the transmission of exchange rate changes to import prices in the short run...

Whether cross-border financial market integration has raised global insurance, is still a controversial issue in the literature. If this is so, what should we observe in the data? The insurance literature emphasizes that efficient risk-sharing requires financial markets to channel resources to...

This paper analyzes optimal monetary policy in a two-country model with asymmetric shocks. Agents insure against risk through the exchange of Arrow-Debreu securities. Although central banks commit to the policy that maximizes domestic welfare, this does not lead to price stability. In an attempt...

We identify the impact of short-term interest rates on credit risk-taking by analyzing a comprehensive credit register from Spain, a country where for the last twenty years monetary policy was mostly decided abroad. Discrete choice, within borrower comparison and duration analyses show that...

This paper develops and estimates a game-theoretical model of inflation targeting where the central banker's preferences are asymmetric around the targeted rate. In particular, positive deviations from the target can be weighted more, or less, severely than negative ones in the central banker's...

In this paper, the role of the financial position of private agents in the transmission of monetary policy (the balance-sheet channel) is explored. To the extent that official interest rates are able to affect the market value and the income flows of certain categories of financial instruments...

This paper analyses the cyclical behaviour of bank credit, loan losses and provisions for loan losses in Spain. These three variables are strongly cyclical in Spain -as in many other countries- and this poses some problems to bank supervisors and regulators. In a context of strong competitive...