Ugo Marani

On keynesian effects of (apparent) non-keynesian fiscal policies

The aim of the paper is to evaluate the robustness of the theory that claims for restrictive effects of expansionary fiscal policy. It shows that such socalled “non-Keynesian effects” may arise as a consequence of a synchronous and opposite monetary policy intervention. The paper demonstrate this conclusion through a stylized model – supported by an empirical investigation on ECB and FED reaction functions - in which Central Banks take into account deficit spending as an element that generate inflation expectations. The econometric analysis shows also that the ECB reacts asymmetrically to deficit spending variations while the FED has a linear reaction to this indicator.

The Monetary Policy of the European Central Bank and the Euro-US Dollar Exchange Rate

The aim of the research is the evaluation of the exchange rate of the Euro after the first six months of its existence. The main interpretative hypotheses of the research can be summarised in the following points: (i) the evolution of the Euro external value is strictly connected with the agents’ confidence on real, financial and foreign exchange markets; (ii) the ECB monetary policy strategy influenced negatively (or at least neglected) the agents’ confidence and expectations already affected by the negative cyclical conditions of european economy; (iii) the resulting portfolio reallocation determined a short-term capital outflow in favour of US Dollar denominated assets and, hence, an Euro depreciation. The consistency of the whole framework is checked by variables as the Industrial Sentiment, the Interest-Rate Spread, the Implied Volatility of exchange rates, the Risk Reversal, and by the building of a Structural Autoregressive Model.

Macroeconomic dynamics in four selected new member states of the EU

In this paper, we employ a block structured near-vector autoregression in order to compare the reactions to euro-area shocks in four New Member States (Bulgaria, Hungary, Czech Republic and Romania) and in the Old Member State of the EU. Thanks to the methodology adopted we also study the effects of national economic policies and their reactions to national shocks in each New Member State. Our analysis highlights that possible asymmetric effects of the ECBs monetary policy cannot be excluded and that the potential accession of the New Member States may increase the level of fiscal indiscipline in the eurozone.