658 research outputs found
Hohe Ungleichheit durch schlecht funktionierende soziale Marktwirtschaft
No full textIn Deutschland sind die Einkommen vor Steuern und Transfers ungleichmäßiger verteilt als in der OECD im Durchschnitt. Erst durch die staatliche Umverteilung stellt sich die Verteilungssituation besser dar. Marcel Fratzscher hält dies für ein Armutszeugnis für die soziale Marktwirtschaft, die ihre Bürger in die Lage versetzen sollte, sich mit der eigenen Hände Arbeit selbst zu versorgen.Germany's income distribution (before taxes and transfers) is more unequal than the OECD average-and only after government redistribution does the situation improve. Marcel Fratzscher believes this reflects a malfunctioning social market economy that is failing to provide citizens with the necessary training to support themselves financially
Rules versus Human Beings, and the Mandate of the ECB
No full textThe actions by the European Central Bank (ECB) during the global and European crises have triggered a highly controversial debate, in particular in Germany, about the costs and benefits of the chosen policy path. The article reviews, compares, and evaluates the different arguments made in favor and against ECB policies around three key dimensions—the link of the policy path to price stability, financial stability, and economic policy. It argues that this debate is not only about the weighing of the benefits against the costs of monetary policy, but it is primarily about the question which mandate the ECB should pursue. This question remains unanswered.This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in CESifo Economic Studies following peer review. The version of record Rules versus Human Beings, and the Mandate of the ECB / Marcel Fratzscher. In: CESifo Economic Studies 62 (2016), 1, p. 68-87 is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cesifo/ifv01
Stocks, bonds, money markets and exchange rates: measuring international financial transmission
No full textThe paper presents a framework for analyzing the degree of financial transmission between money, bond and equity markets and exchange rates within and between the United States and the euro area. We find that asset prices react strongest to other domestic asset price shocks, and that there are also substantial international spillovers, both within and across asset classes. The results underline the dominance of US markets as the main driver of global financial markets: US financial markets explain, on average, more than 25% of movements in euro area financial markets, whereas euro area markets account only for about 8% of US asset price changes. The international propagation of shocks is strengthened in times of recession, and has most likely changed in recent years: prior to EMU, the paper finds smaller international spillovers. JEL Classification: E44, F3, C5financial market linkages, integration, international financial markets, transmission
How should central banks communicate?
No full textThe paper shows that central bank communication is a key determinant of the market’s ability to anticipate monetary policy decisions and the future path of interest rates. Comparing communication policies by the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the ECB since 1999, we find that communicating the diversity of views among committee members about monetary policy lowers the market’s ability to anticipate policy decisions as well as the future path of interest rates. This effect is sizeable, accounting for instance for one third to half of the prediction errors of FOMC policy decisions. By contrast, individualistic communication regarding the economic outlook is found to be beneficial for the Federal Reserve, enabling market participants to better anticipate the future path of interest rates. Thus, it is the collegiality of views on monetary policy but the diversity of views on the economic outlook that enhance the effectiveness of central bank communication. JEL Classification: E43, E52, E58, G12Bank of England, committee, communication, economic outlook, effectiveness, European Central Bank, Federal Reserve, monetary policy
Unfairly Allocated - An Economic Order Without Alternatives?
No full textTwo internationally renowned thinkers and globalization experts meet for this Berlin Correspondence: anthropologist Arjun Appadurai, critical visionary of globalization, and Marcel Fratzscher, director of the German Institute for Economic Research. Focusing on the challenges we face in a globalized world, such as struggles for resources, inequality, and social classes, they raise the question of the »regulatory hand«.
Who or what in fact creates our social order? And what about the idea of the self-regulating power of free markets or the reallocation of resources? Part 4 of the Berlin Correspondence series will investigate these issues.
Berlin Correspondence is a Matinée-Series of the Gorki Forum and the Humboldt University Berlin in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affair
Transparency, disclosure and the federal reserve
No full textThis paper assesses the change in Federal Reserve policy introduced in 1999, with the publication of statements about the outlook for monetary policy (and later about the balance of risks) immediately after each FOMC meeting. We find that markets anticipated monetary policy decisions equally well under this new disclosure regime than before, but arrived at their expectations in different ways. Under the new regime, markets extract information from the statements, whereas before, they needed to revert to other types of Fed communication in the inter-meeting periods, and come to their own assessment of the implications of macroeconomic data releases. Taken together, these findings suggest that the Fed's new disclosure practice may indeed have improved transparency in the sense that information is now released to the markets at an earlier time and with clearer signals, but that the Fed can extract less information from observing market reactions to macroeconomic data releases. JEL Classification: E43, E52, E58, G12announcements, communication, disclosure, monetary policy, transparency
How successful is the G7 in managing exchange rates?
No full textThe paper assesses the extent to which the Group of Seven (G7) has been successful in its management of major currencies since the 1970s. Using an event-study approach, the paper finds evidence that the G7 has been overall effective in moving the U.S. dollar, yen and euro in the intended direction at horizons of up to three months after G7 meetings, but not at longer horizons. While the success of the G7 is partly dependent on the market environment, it is also to a significant degree endogenous to the policy process itself. The findings indicate that the reputation and credibility of the G7, as well as its ability to form and communicate a consensus among individual G7 members, are important determinants for the G7's ability to manage major currencies. The paper concludes by analyzing the factors that help the G7 build reputation and consensus, and by discussing the implications for global economic governance.Group of Seven countries ; Foreign exchange rates ; International economic relations ; Monetary policy
Capital Flows, Push versus Pull Factors and the Global Financial Crisis
No full textThe causes of the 2008 collapse and subsequent surge in global capital flows remain an open and highly controversial issue. Employing a factor model coupled with a dataset of high-frequency portfolio capital flows to 50 economies, the paper finds that common shocks – key crisis events as well as changes to global liquidity and risk – have exerted a large effect on capital flows both in the crisis and in the recovery. However, these effects have been highly heterogeneous across countries, with a large part of this heterogeneity being explained by differences in the quality of domestic institutions, country risk and the strength of domestic macroeconomic fundamentals. Comparing and quantifying these effects shows that common factors (“push” factors) were overall the main drivers of capital flows during the crisis, while country-specific determinants (“pull” factors) have been dominant in accounting for the dynamics of global capital flows in 2009 and 2010, in particular for emerging markets.
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