This paper analyses the role of financial variables in the conduct of monetary policy. In the baseline model for the analysis of interest rules, the inflation rate depends on the output gap, which is solely determined by its own lags and the lagged short-term real interest rate. However, from a...

The macroeconomic implications of asset price flucuations have received increasing attention in academic and policy circles recently, in large part due to the recent boom-bust bubbles in the equity and now housing markets. This book aims to investigate the role of asset prices for various...

Over the past year, euro area sovereign spreads have exhibited an unprecedented degree of volatility. This paper explores how much of these large movements reflected shifts in (i) global risk aversion (ii) country-specific risks, directly from worsening fundamentals, or indirectly from...

In this study, we analyse the determinants of bank credit to the private non-financial sector in 16 industrialized countries based on a cointegrating VAR. Cointegration analysis suggests that property prices are an important determinant of the long-run borrowing capacity of the private sector,...