In surveys with information provision experiments, researchers can observe how people change beliefs, and sometimes also actions, after having been confronted with information. This article interprets information provision experiments from the perspective of the theory of rational inattention, discussing what survey findings tell us about economic behaviour outside the survey and deriving implications for central bank communication.
Vitaly M. Bord, Agnes Kovacs, and Patrick MoranIn the United States, credit card companies frequently use machine learning algorithms to proactively raise credit limits for borrowers. In contrast, an increasing number of countries have begun to prohibit credit limit increases initiated by banks rather than consumers.
Despite payment digitisation, euro banknote demand remains robust and has sharply intensified during crises. This article examines the role of cash as a safe haven and contingency instrument during four diverse crisis episodes in the euro area (the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the April 2025 Iberian blackout and the Greek sovereign debt crisis), each differing in shock type (health, geopolitical, infrastructure, sovereign debt) and geographical scope (euro area-wide, regional and national).
The level of attention paid to inflation affects people’s inflation expectations and, in turn, price and wage-setting decisions. This box puts forward a measure of inflation attention based on a substantial corpus of newspaper articles from the largest euro area countries. The measure is derived from the proportion of articles that contain inflation-related keywords. The indicator spiked during the recent high inflation period, reflecting an increased focus on price developments.
The COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have complicated macroeconomic forecasting and policymaking due to unprecedented disruptions in supply chains and energy markets, suggesting a new macroeconomic regime. However, we are unable to reject the null hypothesis of no structural break in March 2020. We then examine whether these shocks have increased post-COVID-19. Their sizes were initially elevated, but then have been gradually returning to pre-pandemic levels.
The COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have complicated macroeconomic forecasting and policymaking due to unprecedented disruptions in supply chains and energy markets, suggesting a new macroeconomic regime. However, we are unable to reject the null hypothesis of no structural break in March 2020. We then examine whether these shocks have increased post-COVID-19. Their sizes were initially elevated, but then have been gradually returning to pre-pandemic levels.
This paper assesses the environmental performance of sustainability-related investment funds compared to conventional ones across three dimensions: financed activities, portfolio carbon footprint, and investment in firms with ambitious science-based targets. We identify ESG funds using Morningstar (MS) strategies, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation’s Article 8/9 classification, and funds’ self-naming. We find that the greenest funds invest more in low-carbon sectors, but their carbon footprints are comparable to conventional funds.
This paper assesses the environmental performance of sustainability-related investment funds compared to conventional ones across three dimensions: financed activities, portfolio carbon footprint, and investment in firms with ambitious science-based targets. We identify ESG funds using Morningstar (MS) strategies, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation’s Article 8/9 classification, and funds’ self-naming. We find that the greenest funds invest more in low-carbon sectors, but their carbon footprints are comparable to conventional funds.
The Bank of England is today announcing some changes to the financing of its foreign exchange reserves.
This paper introduces the European Central Bank’s Multi Country model (ECB-MC), a coherent macroeconomic framework designed to support economic forecasting and policy analysis within the Eurosystem. The ECB-MC captures the economic dynamics of the five major economies in the euro area – Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands – which account for more than 80 percent of the euro area total GDP.
