Global Integration of Central and Eastern European Financial Markets—The Role of Economic Sentiments

This paper examines the importance of different economic sentiments for the Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) during the transition process. We first analyze the importance of economic confidence with respect to the CEECs' financial markets. Since the integration of formerly strongly‐regulated markets into global markets can also lead to an increase in the dependence of the CEECs' economies on global sentiments, we also investigate the relationship between global economic sentiments, domestic income, and share prices. Applying a restricted cointegrating VAR (CVAR) framework, which allows us to distinguish between the long‐run and the short‐run dynamics, our results for the short run suggest that economic sentiments are influenced by share prices but also offer some predictive power with respect to the latter. What is more, European sentiments play an important role in particular for the CEECs' income and sentiments.     

Driven by the markets? ECB sovereign bond purchases and the securities markets programme

At the height of the European sovereign debt crisis, the European Central Bank decided to purchase distressed European government bonds. Even worse, and more importantly, the ECB is providing direct support of several hundred billions of euros to troubled banks via its normal monetary policy operations by granting them the opportunity to refinance at an interest rate of 1%. This article argues that these purchases will result in common monetary policy being dominated by national fiscal policies. The most worrisome aspect is that the euro area appears to have stumbled into unconventional monetary policies that, once started, will be difficult to exit. In the euro area, properly functioning financial markets are at risk.     

Exchange rate uncertainty and play nonlinearity in aggregate employment

In a microeconomic model, a band of inaction due to hiring and firing costs is widened by option-value effects of exchange rate uncertainty. Applying an adequate aggregation approach, uncertainty leads to intervals of a weak response to exchange rate reversals—the so-called play areas—on the macro level. If changes go beyond the play area, then suddenly strong reactions (spurts) occur. The width of the play is a positive function of the degree of uncertainty. These nonlinear dynamics are captured in a simplified linearized way in a regression framework. As an empirical application, the exchange rate impacts on German employment are analyzed considering play. Since these mechanisms generally apply to investment cases where an aggregation of microeconomic real option effects under uncertainty is relevant, they may be of a general interest.     

The macroeconomic effects of the LTV and LTI ratios in Ireland

We use the Central Bank of Ireland’s Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model to investigate the introduction of regulatory loan-to-value and loan-to-income ratios in 2015, which form part of the Central Bank’s macroprudential measures. The main finding is that while the measures dampen economic activity in the short run, they bring benefits in the medium and long run. Household leverage declines, which lowers the default rate on bank loans. Households deleverage and foreign debt decreases significantly.     

Kommunikationscontrolling — Forschungsstand und Entwicklungen

Zusammenfassungen  Die Investitionen der Wirtschaft in die Unternehmenskommunikation nehmen zu. W?hrend der klassische Werbemarkt stagniert, steigen die Budgets für Public Relations 2008 europaweit um 14 Prozent. Das wirft in der Praxis neue Fragen auf und stellt auch das Kommunikationscontrolling vor neue Aufgabenschwerpunkte. Lesen Sie in diesem Beitrag, welche strategischen Herausforderungen dadurch entstehen und welche Prozesse eingeleitet werden müssen. Prof. Dr. Ansgar Zerfa? Universit?tsprofessor für Kommunikationsmanagement in Politik und Wirtschaft an der Universit?t Leipzig und Autor zahlreicher Publikationen zum strategischen Kommunikationsmanagement Dr. Mark-Steffen Buchele Managing Partner von aexea — communication. content. consulting sowie freier Projektleiter Strategie und Wertsch?pfung am Lehrstuhl für Kommunikationsmanagement der Universit?t Leipzig     

Turkey's Accession to the EU: Economic Criteria Still out of Reach

Original Papers

Turkey's Accession to the EU: Economic Criteria Still out of Reach     

Exchange rate pass-through into German import prices – a disaggregated perspective

This study analyses the exchange rate pass-through into German import prices based on disaggregated data taken on a monthly basis between 1995 and 2012. Our main contribution is twofold: firstly, we employ various time-series techniques to analyse data for different product categories, and also cointegration techniques to carefully distinguish between short-run and long-run pass-through coefficients. Secondly, in a panel data approach we estimate time-varying pass-through coefficients and explain their development with regard to various macroeconomic factors. Our results show that long-run pass-through is only partly observable and incomplete, whereas short-run pass-through shows a more unique character, although heterogeneity across product groups does exist. We are also able to identify several macroeconomic factors that determine changes in the degree of pass-through, which is especially relevant for policymakers.