We integrate newly created financial stress indices (FSIs) into an automated real-time recession forecasting procedure for the Euro area and Germany. The FSIs are based on a large number of financial indicators, each of them potentially signaling financial stress. A subset of these indicators is...

The European Banking Union tries to resolve the trade-off between financial market stability and the taxpayers' burden through bank bailouts. Moreover the Banking Union seeks for reducing the interdependence of banks and sovereigns in the Euro area. The Banking Union represents an important step...

We investigate the contribution of the increase in German (DE) income inequality to the German export surplus increase and the decline of the natural rate of interest in the Euro Area in an open economy model with rich and non-rich households. Rich households have Capitalist Spirit type...

This paper analyses the Nairu in the Euro Area and the influence that monetary policy had on its development. Using the Kalman-filter technique we find that the Nairu has varied considerably since the early seventies. The Kalman-filter technique is applied here for the first time using explicit...