Download or read book Inflation Differentials in Europe and Implications for Competitiveness written by and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This note analyses inflation and competitiveness developments in selected EU countries, as input to the 2023 In-Depth Reviews under the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure. It aims to provide the analytical basis for the assessment of potential imbalances linked to competitiveness for Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia.1 These countries were selected after the first screening for imbalances in the 2023 Alert Mechanism Report on the basis of the evolution of their rates of inflation, unit labour costs and real effective exchange rates. Out of these Member States, only Romania has been considered to experience an imbalance in the 2022 assessment. This note considers the impact of common factors affecting inflation differentials and competitiveness, particularly of commodity price developments, to provide context to the forthcoming In-Depth Reviews under the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure. The analysis to anticipate the evolution of potential risks by relying on the most recent data and available forecasts, and places recent developments in the context of changes that have taken place within and before the pandemic period.2 The analysis provided is not exhaustive. At the time of publication of the In-Depth Reviews, more up to date data will inform the assessments that will be made, and the existence or not of imbalances will take on board developments across countries' economies and additional country-specific factors. Since 2019, the EU economies have been faced with a combination of supply and demand shocks that have affected both relative prices and inflation. Throughout the pandemic and after, various bottlenecks have constrained supply. At the same time, containment measures during the acute phase of the pandemic and uncertainty constrained demand, particularly for contact intensive services, affecting relative prices. In the recovery phase, the rapid surge in demand, while supply was still facing constraints, pushed prices up. Price pressures for energy and commodities, but especially for natural gas, were aggravated significantly by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the disruption of supplies, particularly to Europe.

Download or read book Inflation Differentials in the EU A Common Factors Approach with Implications for EU8 Euro Adoption Prospects written by Nada Choueiri and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2008 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper explores inflation determinants within the EU and implications for new members' euro adoption plans. Factor analysis partitions observed inflation in EU25 countries into common-origin and country-specific (idiosyncratic) components. Cross-country differences in common-origin inflation within the EU are found to depend on gaps in the initial price level, changes in the nominal effective exchange rate, the quality of institutions, and the economy's flexibility. Idiosyncratic inflation is generally small in magnitude. Nonetheless, the results show that country-specific shocks have systematically pushed down headline inflation, potentially influencing the assessment of compliance with the Maastricht inflation criterion.

Download or read book Inflation Differentials in the Euro Area written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 59 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Catching Up and Inflation Differentials in a Heterogeneous Monetary Union written by Ronald MacDonald and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We propose an alternative explanation for the nature, sources and consequences of inflation rate differentials in a monetary union, such as the euro area. We build on the new neoclassical synthesis (NNS) framework, recently advanced by Goodfriend (2002) and Goodfriend and King (2000). Based on the NNS setup, we discuss the inflationary consequences of the catching-up process in a heterogeneous monetary union. In particular, we explore the interaction between catching-up and inflation differentials and offer an interpretation of the nature of this interaction. We demonstrate that divergent inflation rates between Member States do not necessarily have to be an equilibrium phenomenon, even if the original shock comes from the supply-side of the economy. Second, we show how such divergence of individual country's inflation rates may arise when countries differ in size and in trend productivity growth.

Download or read book Economic Convergence in the Euro Area Coming Together or Drifting Apart written by Mr.Jeffrey R. Franks and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2018-01-23 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We examine economic convergence among euro area countries on multiple dimensions. While there was nominal convergence of inflation and interest rates, real convergence of per capita income levels has not occurred among the original euro area members since the advent of the common currency. Income convergence stagnated in the early years of the common currency and has reversed in the wake of the global economic crisis. New euro area members, in contrast, have seen real income convergence. Business cycles became more synchronized, but the amplitude of those cycles diverged. Financial cycles showed a similar pattern: sychronizing more over time, but with divergent amplitudes. Income convergence requires reforms boosting productivity growth in lagging countries, while cyclical and financial convergence can be enhanced by measures to improve national and euro area fiscal policies, together with steps to deepen the single market.

Download or read book The Competitiveness of European Industry written by Arthur Francis and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-02-28 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1989, The Competitiveness of European Industry helps in developing our understanding of the process of improving and measuring industrial competitiveness. The contributors focus on the competitiveness of European industry. Three main topics are discussed: the concept of competitiveness itself; what can be learned about competitiveness at the level of an individual national economy; and processes and strategies in forms which might contribute to improved competitive performance. The first two papers critically assess concepts and measures of national competitiveness and review the performances of the economies of Britain, France, and the Federal German Republic. Then follow accounts of industrial competitiveness in three smaller economies (Belgium, Switzerland, and Sweden), which develop a series of methods and techniques for the analysis of industrial structures and indicate significant policy implications. The three concluding papers look at the competitiveness of British industry at the firm level, focusing on the strategic changes, the competitive process, and technical innovation. This book will be of interest to policy makers, business school teachers, and researchers in the area of strategy, industrial economics, organization behaviour, and innovation management.

Download or read book One Market One Money written by Michael Emerson and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The European Community is negotiating a new treaty to establish the constitutional foundations of an economic and monetary union in the course of the 1990s. This study provides the only comprehensive guide to the economic implications of economic and monetary union. The work of an economist inside the Commission of the European Community, it reflects the considerations influencing the design of the union. The study creates a unique bridge between the insights of modern economic analysis and the work of the policy makers preparing for economic and monetary union.

Download or read book The Distributional Implications of the Impact of Fuel Price Increases on Inflation written by Mr. Kangni R Kpodar and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2021-11-12 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper investigates the response of consumer price inflation to changes in domestic fuel prices, looking at the different categories of the overall consumer price index (CPI). We then combine household survey data with the CPI components to construct a CPI index for the poorest and richest income quintiles with the view to assess the distributional impact of the pass-through. To undertake this analysis, the paper provides an update to the Global Monthly Retail Fuel Price Database, expanding the product coverage to premium and regular fuels, the time dimension to December 2020, and the sample to 190 countries. Three key findings stand out. First, the response of inflation to gasoline price shocks is smaller, but more persistent and broad-based in developing economies than in advanced economies. Second, we show that past studies using crude oil prices instead of retail fuel prices to estimate the pass-through to inflation significantly underestimate it. Third, while the purchasing power of all households declines as fuel prices increase, the distributional impact is progressive. But the progressivity phases out within 6 months after the shock in advanced economies, whereas it persists beyond a year in developing countries.

Download or read book Wage Growth and Inflation in Europe A Puzzle written by Vizhdan Boranova and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2019-12-20 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wages have been rising faster than productivity in many European countries for the past few years, yet signs of underlying consumer price pressures remain limited. To shed light on this puzzle, this paper examines the historical link between wage growth and inflation in Europe and factors that influence the strength of the passthrough from labor costs to prices. Historically, wage growth has led to higher inflation, but the impact has weakened since 2009. Empirical analysis suggests that the passthrough from wage growth to inflation is significantly lower in periods of subdued inflation and inflation expectations, greater competitive pressures, and robust corporate profitability. Thus the recent pickup in wage growth is likely to have a more muted impact on inflation than in the past.

Download or read book Economic Crisis in Europe written by Paul van den Noord and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The European economy is emerging from its deepest recession since the 1930s. This volume, which brings together economic analysis from the European Commission services, explains how swift policy response avoided a financial meltdown. Europe also needs an improved co-ordinated crisis-management framework to help it respond to any similar situations that may arise in the future. Economic Crisis in Europe is a much-anticipated volume which shows that the beginnings of such a crisis-management framework are emerging, building on existing institutions and legislation and complemented by new initiatives.

Download or read book Inflation and Activity Two Explorations and their Monetary Policy Implications written by Mr.Olivier J. Blanchard and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 29 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We explore two issues triggered by the crisis. First, in most advanced countries, output remains far below the pre-recession trend, suggesting hysteresis. Second, while inflation has decreased, it has decreased less than anticipated, suggesting a breakdown of the relation between inflation and activity. To examine the first, we look at 122 recessions over the past 50 years in 23 countries. We find that a high proportion of them have been followed by lower output or even lower growth. To examine the second, we estimate a Phillips curve relation over the past 50 years for 20 countries. We find that the effect of unemployment on inflation, for given expected inflation, decreased until the early 1990s, but has remained roughly stable since then. We draw implications of our findings for monetary policy.

Download or read book Inflation Persistence and Optimal Monetary Policy in the Euro Area written by Pierpaolo Benigno and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Se presentan evidencias de la existencia de heterogeneidades en la dinámica de inflación en los países del área euro.

Download or read book International Productivity Monitor written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2017-07-17 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 32nd issue of the International Productivity Monitor is a special issue produced in collaboration with the OECD. All articles published in this issue were selected from papers presented at the First Annual Conference of the OECD Global Forum on Productivity held in Lisbon, Portugal, July ...

Download or read book Clusters of Competitiveness written by Raj Nallari and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2013-08-28 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Competition, competitiveness, innovation and growth are inherently linked. This book covers the main ideas underlying competitiveness and its applications, drawing lessons for developing economies and relevant policy recommendations.

Download or read book What is the Impact of Increased Business Competition written by Sónia Félix and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2019-12-13 with total page 57 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper studies the macroeconomic effect and underlying firm-level transmission channels of a reduction in business entry costs. We provide novel evidence on the response of firms' entry, exit, and employment decisions. To do so, we use as a natural experiment a reform in Portugal that reduced entry time and costs. Using the staggered implementation of the policy across the Portuguese municipalities, we find that the reform increased local entry and employment by, respectively, 25% and 4.8% per year in its first four years of implementation. Moreover, around 60% of the increase in employment came from incumbent firms expanding their size, with most of the rise occurring among the most productive firms. Standard models of firm dynamics, which assume a constant elasticity of substitution, are inconsistent with the expansionary and heterogeneous response across incumbent firms. We show that in a model with heterogeneous firms and variable markups the most productive firms face a lower demand elasticity and expand their employment in response to increased entry.

Download or read book Emigration and Its Economic Impact on Eastern Europe written by Mr.Ruben V Atoyan and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2016-07-20 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper analyses the impact of large and persistent emigration from Eastern European countries over the past 25 years on these countries’ growth and income convergence to advanced Europe. While emigration has likely benefited migrants themselves, the receiving countries and the EU as a whole, its impact on sending countries’ economies has been largely negative. The analysis suggests that labor outflows, particularly of skilled workers, lowered productivity growth, pushed up wages, and slowed growth and income convergence. At the same time, while remittance inflows supported financial deepening, consumption and investment in some countries, they also reduced incentives to work and led to exchange rate appreciations, eroding competiveness. The departure of the young also added to the fiscal pressures of already aging populations in Eastern Europe. The paper concludes with policy recommendations for sending countries to mitigate the negative impact of emigration on their economies, and the EU-wide initiatives that could support these efforts.

Download or read book Global Productivity written by Alistair Dieppe and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2021-06-09 with total page 552 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The COVID-19 pandemic struck the global economy after a decade that featured a broad-based slowdown in productivity growth. Global Productivity: Trends, Drivers, and Policies presents the first comprehensive analysis of the evolution and drivers of productivity growth, examines the effects of COVID-19 on productivity, and discusses a wide range of policies needed to rekindle productivity growth. The book also provides a far-reaching data set of multiple measures of productivity for up to 164 advanced economies and emerging market and developing economies, and it introduces a new sectoral database of productivity. The World Bank has created an extraordinary book on productivity, covering a large group of countries and using a wide variety of data sources. There is an emphasis on emerging and developing economies, whereas the prior literature has concentrated on developed economies. The book seeks to understand growth patterns and quantify the role of (among other things) the reallocation of factors, technological change, and the impact of natural disasters, including the COVID-19 pandemic. This book is must-reading for specialists in emerging economies but also provides deep insights for anyone interested in economic growth and productivity. Martin Neil Baily Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution Former Chair, U.S. President’s Council of Economic Advisers This is an important book at a critical time. As the book notes, global productivity growth had already been slowing prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and collapses with the pandemic. If we want an effective recovery, we have to understand what was driving these long-run trends. The book presents a novel global approach to examining the levels, growth rates, and drivers of productivity growth. For anyone wanting to understand or influence productivity growth, this is an essential read. Nicholas Bloom William D. Eberle Professor of Economics, Stanford University The COVID-19 pandemic hit a global economy that was already struggling with an adverse pre-existing condition—slow productivity growth. This extraordinarily valuable and timely book brings considerable new evidence that shows the broad-based, long-standing nature of the slowdown. It is comprehensive, with an exceptional focus on emerging market and developing economies. Importantly, it shows how severe disasters (of which COVID-19 is just the latest) typically harm productivity. There are no silver bullets, but the book suggests sensible strategies to improve growth prospects. John Fernald Schroders Chaired Professor of European Competitiveness and Reform and Professor of Economics, INSEAD