Output Growth Differentials Across the Euro Area Countries: Some Stylised Facts

Wage Growth Dispersion across the Euro Area Countries: Some Stylised Facts

“…For a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of various dispersion measures see also Benalal et al (2006), pp. 9-10.…”

“…This constitutes a more meaningful benchmark than the whole of Germany, as the dispersion measures for West Germany excluding Berlin are to a lesser extent affected by the distortions of the German unifi cation process. For a review of the caveats on the analysis of benchmark areas 13 see Section 1.1.1 in Benalal et al (2006).…”

Optimal monetary policy in the Euro area in the presence of heterogeneity

“…The degree of heterogeneity in the European monetary union, examined in a large number of empirical studies, is found to be higher than that observed in other currency areas such as the United States. The relatively persistent in ‡ation and output growth di¤erentials observed in the euro area (ECB, 2003;Benalal et al, 2006;Agresti and Mojon, 2001) result in part from the real convergence process, although this process has reached an advanced stage in recent years. At the same time, these di¤erentials can be partly attributed to structural di¤erences across member countries, for example in price and wage-setting mechanisms and in consumption behavior patterns as re ‡ected in the coe¢ cients of the Phillips and the aggregate demand curves respectively.…”