European Central Bank

Avoiding a financial epidemic – The role of macroprudential policies

09/22/2021 European Central Bank Central banks

Many countries have implemented macroprudential policies. The aims are twofold: first, to render the financial system more resilient to shocks and, second, to prevent booms and busts in the financial system in response to economic cycles. This article provides theoretical and empirical evidence which shows the positive impact that these measures have on financial stability, as well as the gains in economic growth derived from a stronger financial system.

Side effects of monetary easing in a low interest rate environment: reversal and risk-taking

09/22/2021 European Central Bank Central banks

The effect of policy rate cuts on bank lending and risk-taking depends on how the low interest rate environment affects banks’ ability to raise external financing. When interest rates are low, easing monetary policy relaxes banks’ external financing constraint less than when interest rates are high. This reduces the stimulus to bank lending and induces banks to take more risk. There are indeed side effects of monetary stimulus at the zero-lower bound (ZLB).

A novel risk management perspective for macroprudential policy

09/22/2021 European Central Bank Central banks

When considering the use of macroprudential instruments to manage financial imbalances, macroprudential policymakers face an intertemporal trade-off between facilitating short-term expected growth and containing medium-term downside risks to the economy. To assist policymakers in assessing this trade-off, in this article we propose a risk management framework which extends the well-known notion of growth-at-risk to consider the entire predictive real GDP growth distribution, with a view to quantifying the macroprudential policy stance.

A time-varying carbon tax to protect the environment while safeguarding the economy

07/28/2021 European Central Bank Central banks

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time. The challenge for policymakers is that climate policies could have a negative impact on the economy in the short term. In this article we discuss how this trade-off between fighting climate change and ensuring a stable business cycle affects the design of environmental policies. We argue in favour of a time-varying carbon tax that is increased during booms and decreased during recessions.

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