Julian Benedict Morgan

NEW MACROECONOMIC EVIDENCE ON MONETARY POLICY TRANSMISSION IN THE EURO AREA

This paper presents some new macroeconomic evidence on the transmission mechanism of monetary policy in the euro area. The evidence is drawn from a number of collaborative research projects undertaken by the ECB and the National Central Banks (NCBs) of the euro area and utilizes a variety of national and euro area aggregate VAR and structural macroeconomic models. A qualitatively similar pattern of results following a monetary policy shock is observed across models, with the maximum output effect typically occurring after 1-2 years. Price effects are somewhat slower to materialize and are more persistent. According to both sets of results, investment is the main (domestic) contributor to the drop in real GDP. This contrasts with findings for the United States where consumption plays a dominant role in the transmission process. Finally, structural macroeconomic models predict that if the exchange rate moves in line with an Uncovered Interest Parity (UIP) condition, the short-run output and price effects are largely driven by the exchange rate channel. (JEL: C50, C52, E52, E17, E5) Copyright (c) 2003 The European Economic Association.

The Effects of Euro Area Interest Rate Changes: Evidence from Macroeconomic Models

This paper examines the effects of changes in Euro Area interest rates using macroeconomic models. It examines the results of a harmonised monetary policy simulation at the Euro Area level using the National Institute of Economic and Social Research’s Global Economic Model (NiGEM) and the European Central Bank’s Area Wide Model (AWM). Comparison is also drawn with the aggregate results from Euro Area National Central Bank models as reported in van Els et al. (2001). Overall, the results across the different models are broadly consistent with what might be regarded as the stylised facts of the monetary transmission mechanism. That is to say that, following a policy tightening, there is an initial fall in output consisting of a more pronounced investment response and a less pronounced consumption response. This output fall is accompanied by protracted price dynamics.