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In der vorliegenden Ausgabe 2005 der regelmäßig erscheinenden OECD-Prüfberichte über die Wirtschaft des Euroraums werden systematisch die wirtschaftlichen Entwicklungen untersucht und Politikempfehlungen ausgesprochen. Zentrales Thema dieser Ausgabe sind Wachstumsergebnisse und Schockresistenz. Im ersten Kapitel wird ein Überblick über Entwicklungstrends und Herausforderungen gegeben, während sich das zweite Kapitel mit Geldpolitik und Wechselkursen befasst. Das dritte Kapitel ist fiskalischen Fragen gewidmet. Im vierten Kapitel schließlich werden Mittel und Wege zur Ankurbelung des Wachstums untersucht, wie namentlich besser funkionierende Arbeitsmärkte, Integration der Dienstleistungsmärkte, Innovationsförderung und Strukturreformen.

Economics --- Euro Area

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This paper considers the increase in current account imbalances in euro area countries since the early 1990s. While the euro area as a whole has remained relatively close to external balance, the current account balances of individual countries have diverged: Spain, Greece and Portugal ran large current account deficits by historical norms for industrial economies, while Germany and the Netherlands ran large surpluses. These imbalances are larger and more sustained than those observed in recent decades. While there has been extensive discussion of the US and Chinese external positions in the context of the debate on global imbalances, more attention has been given to the developments in the euro area only in the wake of the recent sovereign debt crisis. This paper uses a period-average model estimated on data for OECD countries since the late 1960s to investigate the determinants of current account imbalances. Fundamental economic factors are found to play an important role, in line with earlier studies, but do not fully explain the extent of imbalances over the past decade. The strength of housing investment appears to capture important effects over this period. This working paper relates to the 2010 OECD Economic Survey of the Euro Area (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/euroarea).

Economics --- Euro Area

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This paper investigates the determinants of money demand (M3) in the euro area. It specifically examines the potential impact of financial and housing wealth on money demand. It tests the hypothesis, whether wealth associated with increases in asset prices is used to finance liquidity holdings in a standard portfolio context. Regressing velocity on interest rates and a wealth variable (a composite of residential property and stocks) within an error-correction framework provides evidence of positive wealth effects from financial and housing assets on money demand in the long run, but no significant impact in the short run. Tests suggests that the long-run and dynamic money demand equations are stable and have not been disrupted by the adoption of the euro on 1 January 1999, while the impact of wealth on money demand may have increased ...

Economics --- Euro Area

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This paper reviews first the fiscal policy recommendations by the EU, the IMF and the OECD for Finland, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. All these countries had inflation above the euro area average in early 2001, some by a considerable margin. The fiscal policy prescriptions deviate little, the EU, the IMF and the OECD generally recommending an active use of fiscal policy. There are some exceptions, however. The next section examines indicators of excess demand in these countries. This is followed by a review of the factors that help or hinder market-based adjustment, including simulations to gauge their effect. Market-based adjustment to demand shocks depends critically on whether the effect of a lower real interest rate is strong relative to the loss in competitiveness, on the size of wealth effects, on wage and price setting behavior, on the supply response and on the strength of trade integration. Simulations suggest that market-based ...

Economics --- Euro Area

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In recent years, inflation in the euro area has failed to decelerate decisively while cyclical slack built up in the economy. Is this phenomenon more than a peculiarity in recent data? Is it related to structural policy settings? Econometric analysis conducted on two decades of quarterly data covering 17 countries yields a yes on both counts. First, inflation is shown to respond significantly more weakly to cyclical slack in the euro area than in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States or Canada. Secondly, this lack of responsiveness is found to be related in a statistically significant way to more rigid structural policy settings. The results pass a wide range of robustness checks. This Working Paper relates to the 2005 OECD Economic Survey of the euro area (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/euroarea).

Economics --- Euro Area