Virginia Di Nino
Economics
- Division
Business Cycle Analysis
- Current Position
-
Principal Economist
- 2 October 2024
- WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 2986Details
- Abstract
- We use inflation and income growth expectations from the ECB Consumer Expectations Survey to measure the subjective expected pass-through of inflation to income in the main euro area countries. By aggregating consumers’ responses to probabilistic questions, we obtain significantly higher estimates of the pass-through than those obtained from micro data. Our methodology allows one to examine how the pass-through varies along the probability distribution of expected inflation, which turns out to be particularly large for moderate inflation expectations. We find significant heterogeneity in the inflation pass-through across countries, ages and income groups, consistent with different wage and pension indexation regimes.
- JEL Code
- C10 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General→General
C22 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Single Equation Models, Single Variables→Time-Series Models, Dynamic Quantile Regressions, Dynamic Treatment Effect Models &bull Diffusion Processes
E31 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles→Price Level, Inflation, Deflation
E66 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook→General Outlook and Conditions
- 23 September 2024
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - ARTICLEEconomic Bulletin Issue 6, 2024Details
- Abstract
- Over the past few decades, the euro area has gradually lost market share in global trade. This article describes the long-term trends underlying the decline in the euro area’s market share, relating it to losses in competitiveness in foreign markets. It explains how a series of recent global shocks – such as pandemic-related supply disruptions, geopolitical tensions and the energy shock following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – as well as other factors affecting price and non-price competitiveness had an asymmetric impact on the euro area compared with its main trading partners and exposed important vulnerabilities in its external competitiveness. These vulnerabilities are particularly significant in view of the challenges ahead, which are linked to the persistence of the energy shock, risks associated with geo-economic fragmentation and the ongoing structural transformation of the European and global economies.
- JEL Code
- F14 : International Economics→Trade→Empirical Studies of Trade
- 18 June 2024
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 4, 2024Details
- Abstract
- Since the start of 2018 automotive production and exports in the euro area have both contracted by about 20%, while they have fared better in China, Japan, Korea and the United States. The current weakness is mostly a result of declining demand for combustion engines in the context of net zero emission targets and hesitancy to purchase hybrid and electric vehicles. Other factors, such as supply chain disruptions, adverse energy supply shocks and monetary tightening have also negatively contributed to the drop in automotive production. Despite intensified foreign competition, the euro area automotive industry has defended its global positioning by focusing on profitable market segments. A recovery can be expected in the medium term as adverse factors related to supply bottlenecks and tight financing conditions fade away. However, risks to the outlook are elevated. These are associated with the digital innovation gap vis-a-vis the United States and China as well as geopolitical tensions, which can disrupt supply chains.
- JEL Code
- E3 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles
F1 : International Economics→Trade
L62 : Industrial Organization→Industry Studies: Manufacturing→Automobiles, Other Transportation Equipment
- 10 August 2023
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 5, 2023Details
- Abstract
- Evidence from the ECB Consumer Expectations Survey (CES) shows that consumers’ expectations for interest rates on mortgages and savings accounts have increased, in line with actual interest rate developments. Since June 2022 an increasing share of respondents, particularly among those with an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) which are generally more directly exposed to interest rate changes, has favoured lower interest rates. A growing share of households with an ARM also expects difficulties in meeting their mortgage payments in the near future and intends to refinance the mortgage contract. In line with their higher exposure to interest rate changes, spending expectations of respondents with an ARM are more sensitive to changes in expected interest rates. Overall, the results of the CES suggest that consumers have been progressively incorporating the impact of higher interest rates into their spending decisions.
- JEL Code
- E03 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→General→Behavioral Macroeconomics
E21 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy→Consumption, Saving, Wealth
E52 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Monetary Policy
- 29 June 2023
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 4, 2023Details
- Abstract
- Since the outbreak of the pandemic, households in the euro area and the United States have accumulated a remarkable stock of savings, which exceeds the pre-pandemic trend and provides a boost to private consumption. This box documents how, in the euro area, the stock of excess savings is mainly held in illiquid assets, which are not readily available for consumption. It also shows that, despite some differences in the euro area and the United States, excess savings are concentrated among wealthy individuals, who generally have a lower marginal propensity to consume. Using a calibrated general equilibrium model with heterogeneous agents, the box shows that the consumption impulse from the immediate use of such excess savings is dampened by the anticipation of a future expansion in demand, as households smooth their consumption patterns over time. Overall, the results suggest that the consumption impulse from excess savings accumulated during the pandemic has declined in both economies since the second half of 2021 and has been lower in the euro area compared with the United States.
- JEL Code
- E21 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy→Consumption, Saving, Wealth
E44 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
E52 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Monetary Policy
- 1 June 2023
- THE ECB BLOGDetails
- JEL Code
- Q54 : Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics→Environmental Economics→Climate, Natural Disasters, Global Warming
- 16 May 2023
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - ARTICLEEconomic Bulletin Issue 3, 2023Details
- Abstract
- This article presents evidence on the distributional effects of the recent surge in inflation on households. Households experience inflation differently depending on their spending allocation. When the prices of essential goods rise, low-income households are particularly affected. Households also have different exposures to inflationary shocks depending on the income they allocate to consumption, their income risk and the composition of their wealth. In the current inflationary episode, the resilience of the labour market and the provision of fiscal support have so far tempered some of the adverse distributional consequences of high inflation on social welfare.
- JEL Code
- E01 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→General→Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth, Environmental Accounts
E21 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy→Consumption, Saving, Wealth
E31 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles→Price Level, Inflation, Deflation
E64 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook→Incomes Policy, Price Policy
F41 : International Economics→Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance→Open Economy Macroeconomics
- 23 January 2023
- WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 2764Details
- Abstract
- The EU is revising its emissions trading system (ETS) and plans to impose a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) on imports. We evaluate the efficacy of the ETS retrospectively and its anti-competitive effects. We find that the ETS contributed to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the EU by 2-2.5 percentage points per year; pricier emissions and more stringent caps accelerated the EU greening process. However, some carbon leakages occurred as declining emissions in regulated industries within the EU were counterbalanced by an intensification elsewhere. Moreover, it burdened companies in regulated industries. For a comparable rise in the emission intensity of production, gross output of companies located in the EU drops more than output of companies outside the EU. In addition, the choice of purchasing high-emission inputs from within the EU translates into a competitive disadvantage for companies located within the EU. The large drop in F-type output when emissions intensity rises might signal their enhanced ability to relocate the production of high-carbon footprints intermediates to non-regulated regions. Outsourcing helps dodging the EU green regulation and the strategy becomes increasingly appealing as the sectoral coverage of the ETS is extended. A careful joint design of the CBAM and the ETS becomes thus crucial to avoid that applying the CBAM to a restricted list of imports while expanding the ETS coverage puts the EU at greater risk of carbon leakages without concretely reducing global emissions.
- JEL Code
- Q52 : Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics→Environmental Economics→Pollution Control Adoption Costs, Distributional Effects, Employment Effects
Q58 : Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics→Environmental Economics→Government Policy
- 14 September 2022
- THE ECB BLOGDetails
- JEL Code
- E31 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles→Price Level, Inflation, Deflation
J16 : Labor and Demographic Economics→Demographic Economics→Economics of Gender, Non-labor Discrimination
Related- 28 July 2022
- THE ECB BLOG
- 24 August 2022
- THE ECB BLOG
- 25 April 2022
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - ARTICLEEconomic Bulletin Issue 3, 2022Details
- Abstract
- The recent increase in energy prices raises the question of the extent to which households will reduce their consumption in response. This article reviews the drivers of the macroeconomic transmission of higher energy prices. It finds that in the first half of 2021 households regarded most of the rise in energy prices as being driven by stronger aggregate demand, leading to a recovery in consumption. However, since the summer of 2021 price rises caused, among other things, by disruptions in the supply of energy have increasingly weighed on household spending. This article also analyses the distributional impact of higher energy prices. Because poorer households spend a relatively large percentage of their income on energy, their purchasing power is particularly affected when energy prices surge. While monetary policy may have a limited role to play in counteracting the fallout from supply-driven changes in energy prices, targeted fiscal policies seem well suited to addressing the impact on the most affected households.
- JEL Code
- C23 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Single Equation Models, Single Variables→Panel Data Models, Spatio-temporal Models
C32 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models, Multiple Variables→Time-Series Models, Dynamic Quantile Regressions, Dynamic Treatment Effect Models, Diffusion Processes
D39 : Microeconomics→Distribution→Other
E21 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy→Consumption, Saving, Wealth
- 21 September 2021
- OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES - No. 271Details
- Abstract
- This paper analyses the implications of climate change for the conduct of monetary policy in the euro area. It first investigates macroeconomic and financial risks stemming from climate change and from policies aimed at climate mitigation and adaptation, as well as the regulatory and fiscal effects of reducing carbon emissions. In this context, it assesses the need to adapt macroeconomic models and the Eurosystem/ECB staff economic projections underlying the monetary policy decisions. It further considers the implications of climate change for the conduct of monetary policy, in particular the implications for the transmission of monetary policy, the natural rate of interest and the correct identification of shocks. Model simulations using the ECB’s New Area-Wide Model (NAWM) illustrate how the interactions of climate change, financial and fiscal fragilities could significantly restrict the ability of monetary policy to respond to standard business cycle fluctuations. The paper concludes with an analysis of a set of potential monetary policy measures to address climate risks, insofar as they are in line with the ECB’s mandate.
- JEL Code
- E52 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Monetary Policy
E58 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Central Banks and Their Policies
Q54 : Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics→Environmental Economics→Climate, Natural Disasters, Global Warming
- 21 September 2021
- OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES - No. 263Details
- Abstract
- This paper assesses how globalisation has shaped the economic environment in which the ECB operates and discusses whether this warrants adjustments to the monetary policy strategy. The paper first looks at how trade and financial integration have evolved since the last strategy review in 2003. It then examines the effects of these developments on global productivity growth, the natural interest rate (r*), inflation trends and monetary transmission. While trade globalisation initially boosted productivity growth, this effect may be waning as trade integration slows and market contestability promotes a winner-takes-all environment. The impact of globalisation on r* has been ambiguous: downward pressures, fuelled by global demand for safe assets and an increase in the propensity to save against a background of rising inequality, are counteracted by upward pressures, from the boost to global productivity associated with greater trade integration. Headline inflation rates have become more synchronised globally, largely because commodity prices are increasingly determined by global factors. Meanwhile, core inflation rates show a lower degree of commonality. Globalisation has made a rather modest contribution to the synchronised fall in trend inflation across countries and contributed only moderately to the reduction in the responsiveness of inflation to changes in activity. Regarding monetary transmission, globalisation has made the role of the exchange rate more complex by introducing new mechanisms through which it affects financial conditions, real activity and price dynamics. Against the background of this discussion, the paper then examines the implications for the ECB’s monetary policy strategy. In doing so, it asks two questions. How is the ECB’s economic and monetary analysis affected by globalisation? And how does globalisation influence the choice of the ECB’s monetary policy objective and instruments? ...
- JEL Code
- E58 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Central Banks and Their Policies
F42 : International Economics→Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance→International Policy Coordination and Transmission
F44 : International Economics→Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance→International Business Cycles
F62 : International Economics→Economic Impacts of Globalization→Macroeconomic Impacts
F65 : International Economics→Economic Impacts of Globalization→Finance
- 7 May 2021
- WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 2546Details
- Abstract
- We revisit the effects of globalisation over the past 50 years in a large sample of advanced and emerging countries. We use accessions to \Globalisation Clubs" (WTO, OECD, EU), financial liberalisation and an instrument for trade openness to study the trade-off between efficiency (proxied by real GDP per capita and TFP) and equity (proxied by the labour share of income and the Gini index of inequality). We find that (i) most of our episodes lead to an increase in trade openness (ii) effects on GDP per capita are mostly positive with some interesting exceptions and (iii) there is little evidence that globalisation shocks lead to more inequality.
- JEL Code
- F13 : International Economics→Trade→Trade Policy, International Trade Organizations
F36 : International Economics→International Finance→Financial Aspects of Economic Integration
- 17 December 2020
- WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 2506Details
- Abstract
- Beside large capital flows, euro area financial centres feature important and growing trade surpluses. We investigate the composition of their gross trade flows and disentangle (i) domestic and foreign production content that is (ii) directly traded with final absorbing economies or embedded in intermediates that are carried to final destination by partner countries. This accounting exercise uncovers that foreign production transiting through their borders accounts for most of the surpluses of financial centres but also that the net surplus in domestic value added traded directly with final consumers is twice as large as in other euro area economies. MNEs allocate the value created globally to financial centres. They do so through transfer pricing practices which undermine the correct representation of the external position of these countries with a bearing also on the external position of the euro area. Their participation in production chains also appears oddly large. When we replace the official trade statistics with predictions based on the gravity law of trade, the surpluses of main euro area financial centres disappear.
- JEL Code
- F14 : International Economics→Trade→Empirical Studies of Trade
F23 : International Economics→International Factor Movements and International Business→Multinational Firms, International Business
F40 : International Economics→Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance→General
- 23 September 2020
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - ARTICLEEconomic Bulletin Issue 6, 2020Details
- Abstract
- Adverse shocks induced by containment measures in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) are not limited to the originating country. Foreign trade, while not the sole propagation mechanism, transmits these shocks across economies. In the euro area, the deep integration of firms within regional supply chains ‑ as well as strong final demand linkages ‑ acts as a magnifying mechanism. This article quantifies the propagation and impact of adverse shocks originating in the euro area on euro area GDP, foreign trade and trade balances. It concludes that the transmission to the rest of the euro area of a shock originating in one of the five largest Member States ranges from 15% to 28% of the original shock’s size. The negative spillover effects are most severe for open countries and those most intertwined in regional production network.
- JEL Code
- F00 : International Economics→General→General
F15 : International Economics→Trade→Economic Integration
F62 : International Economics→Economic Impacts of Globalization→Macroeconomic Impacts
- 25 March 2020
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 2, 2020Details
- Abstract
- The US corporate tax reform that entered into force at the beginning of 2018 resulted in foreign direct investment flows reversing for the first time in the euro area. The episode is explained fully by developments in countries which are financial centres, where disinvestment operations were carried out via special purpose entities, initially through transactions in equities and later also in debt securities. Besides the bilateral flows with the United States, which were the first to be affected, foreign direct investment flows to and from offshore centres also reversed, reflecting the complex geographical structure of capital allocation by US multinational enterprises.
- JEL Code
- F32 : International Economics→International Finance→Current Account Adjustment, Short-Term Capital Movements
F38 : International Economics→International Finance→International Financial Policy: Financial Transactions Tax; Capital Controls
- 24 March 2020
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - ARTICLEEconomic Bulletin Issue 2, 2020Details
- Abstract
- This article analyses how the operations of large multinational enterprises (MNEs) affect the external account of the euro area and, in general, financial centres. The increased ease of moving intangible assets, profits and headquarters across borders poses challenges to the current framework of international statistics and economic analysis. First, the article shows how MNE operations are recorded in cross-border statistics, as well as the challenges in measuring such data. Second, the article highlights evidence of the impact that MNEs have on the external account of the euro area – this is most evident in current account balances and foreign direct investment in euro area financial centres, often involving special-purpose entities (SPEs). Third, the article looks at the tendency of financial centres to report current account surpluses that may be tentatively attributed, in part, to the activity of MNEs. Multilateral initiatives could help to improve the transparency of MNE operations and ensure an exchange of information across borders for tax and statistical purposes.
- JEL Code
- F21 : International Economics→International Factor Movements and International Business→International Investment, Long-Term Capital Movements
F23 : International Economics→International Factor Movements and International Business→Multinational Firms, International Business
F3 : International Economics→International Finance
- 5 February 2020
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 1, 2020Details
- Abstract
- Foreign trade zones (FTZs) are designed to promote economic development by favouring international trade, especially trade within global production networks. In FTZs, a substantial share of imports (ranging from 12-17% of total domestic imports) is manufactured and, in part, re-exported. FTZs can break the “chain effect” of tariffs because intermediate goods imported via FTZs enjoy preferential treatment or even duty exemption. This already occurs in the United States and is under consideration in China, where capital controls in FTZs are looser and tax advantages already exist. In the European Union, however, FTZs are mainly used to smooth out customs processes, while an import duty suspension scheme is used to grant favourable treatment to imports of intermediates.
- JEL Code
- E23 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy→Production
F10 : International Economics→Trade→General
F13 : International Economics→Trade→Trade Policy, International Trade Organizations
- 30 January 2020
- WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 2368Details
- Abstract
- In a simplified theoretical framework we model the strategic interactions between OPEC and non-OPEC producers and the implications for the global oil market. Depending on market conditions, OPEC may find it optimal to act either as a monopolist on the residual demand curve, to move supply in-tandem with non-OPEC, or to offset changes in non-OPEC supply. We evaluate the implications of the model through a Structural Vector Auto Regression (VAR) that separates non-OPEC and OPEC production and allows OPEC to respond to supply increases in non-OPEC countries. This is done by either increasing production (Market Share Targeting) or by reducing it (Price Targeting). We find that Price Targeting shocks absorb half of the fluctuations in oil prices, which have left unexplained by a simpler model (where strategic interactions are not taken into account). Price Targeting shocks, ignored by previous studies, explain around 10 percent of oil price fluctuations and are particularly relevant in the commodity price boom of the 2000s. We confirm that the fall in oil prices at the end of 2014 was triggered by an attempt of OPEC to re-gain market shares. We also find the OPEC elasticity of supply three times as high as that of non-OPEC producers.
- JEL Code
- Q41 : Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics→Energy→Demand and Supply, Prices
Q43 : Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics→Energy→Energy and the Macroeconomy
- 8 August 2019
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 9, 2019Details
- Abstract
- This box shows that the reversal in gross flows of euro area foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2018 was to a large extent due to developments in flows in Luxembourg and the Netherlands, with Ireland and Belgium contributing to a lesser extent. The episode can be explained by the activity of special purpose entities located in these countries and is also likely to be related to the US corporate tax reform.
- JEL Code
- F32 : International Economics→International Finance→Current Account Adjustment, Short-Term Capital Movements
F38 : International Economics→International Finance→International Financial Policy: Financial Transactions Tax; Capital Controls
- 20 December 2017
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - ARTICLEEconomic Bulletin Issue 8, 2017