The recent global financial crisis has increased interest in macroeconomic models that incorporate financial frictions. We illustrate the simulation properties of five medium-sized general equilibrium models used by central banks in the Eurosystem. The models include a financial accelerator...

We build a model of the euro area incorporating financial market frictions at the level of firms and households. Entrepreneurs borrow from financial intermediaries in order to purchase business capital, in the spirit of the “financial accelerator” literature. We also introduce two types of...