Current economic developments

10/11/2019

Are financial variables a useful complement for GDP nowcasting?

By Barbara Castelletti-Font, Pavel Diev and William Honvo

Severe financial market stress can result in significant errors in the forecasting of quarterly GDP growth. This post focuses on the impact of financial variables on the short-term forecasting of GDP in France. A financial conditions indicator can provide useful qualitative information to the forecaster on the risks associated with the baseline projection.

Severe financial market stress can result in significant errors in the forecasting of quarterly GDP growth. This post focuses on the impact of financial variables on the short-term forecasting of GDP in France. A financial conditions indicator can provide
Chart 1: Relationship between the Country-Level Index of Financial Stress (CLIFS) and GDP growth in France GDP quarter-on-quarter growth, 10% of the obs. with lowest GDP, rest of the obs. Sources: Banque de France, ECB and INSEE
Updated on 10/11/2019 11:24.
07/30/2019

Strengthening the Global Financial Safety Net in the face of heightened risks

By Ludivine Berret, Marie-Hélène Ferrer and Céline Rochon

In a world marked by reduced fiscal and monetary leeway and heightened risks, a strengthened Global Financial Safety Net is desirable, in addition to better macroeconomic policy coordination. This issue, discussed under the French G7 Presidency, calls for a renewed multilateralism (see the blog on “The G7, an engine for multilateralism”).

Chart 1: Evolution of the size and composition of the Global Financial Safety Net
Chart 1: Evolution of the size and composition of the Global Financial Safety Net Source: IMF, Adequacy of the Global Financial Safety Net, 2016.
Updated on 07/30/2019 11:20.
07/26/2019

Where is euro area inflation in relation to the “Phillips cone”?

By Clémence Berson, Hadrien Camatte, Antoine Lalliard and Julien Le Roux

The “Phillips cone” is a range of possible values for inflation obtained using different specifications of the Phillips curve. The Eurosystem’s June 2019 projection for euro area inflation is slightly below the median forecast in the Phillips cone for the entire projection horizon, and even slightly below the cone at the start of the horizon. This suggests that the Eurosystem’s projection is fairly prudent.

Chart 1: The euro area projection is prudent relative to the Phillips cone
Chart 1: The euro area projection is prudent relative to the Phillips cone Source: Eurostat, Eurosystem, authors’ calculations Note: after the first quarter of 2019, the black line shows the Eurosystem’s June 2019 projection.
Updated on 07/26/2019 11:29.
07/09/2019

Forecasting in an Uncertain Economic Environment

By Florens Odendahl (Banque de France)

If we consider that future economic outcomes are inherently uncertain, this gives rise to the notion of economic risk. For instance, what is the probability of a contraction in future GDP growth? Extending this idea to the case of several variables, we can address questions about the joint development of risks to GDP growth and inflation, for example.

Figure 1: The central tendency alone does not reflect information about macroeconomic risk
Figure 1: The central tendency alone does not reflect information about macroeconomic risk Source: Adrian et al. (2019) Note: one-year-ahead density forecasts of US real GPD growth.
Updated on 07/09/2019 17:11.
05/27/2019

What are the financial risks to euro area growth?

By Naomi Cohen, Laurent Ferrara, Matteo Mogliani and Jean-Guillaume Sahuc

Monetary policy decisions require a prior assessment of different economic scenarios, including the most extreme ones. Assessed on the basis of the Banque de France's Financial Conditions Index, financial risks that are likely to weigh on the distribution of future euro-area GDP growth appear limited.

Expected distribution of euro area quarterly GDP growth between 2001 and 2018
Chart 1: Expected distribution of euro area quarterly GDP growth between 2001 and 2018 Sources: Eurostat, Banque de France, authors' calculations.
Updated on 05/28/2019 10:32.
03/28/2019

The impact of structural reform on rent creation, rent sharing and productivity

By Gilbert Cette, Jimmy Lopez and Jacques Mairesse

The positive effect on productivity of reducing product market regulation and employment protection legislation has been extensively documented and analysed, leading to many structural reforms in OECD countries. On the basis of new measures of rent creation and rent sharing, we show that further product market deregulation could substantially increase productivity, notably in France and Italy.

Chart 1: Expected total factor productivity gains from product market deregulation
Chart 1: Expected total factor productivity gains from product market deregulation Sources: Authors’ calculations assuming a switch to the most pro-competitive regulations
Updated on 03/28/2019 12:16.
03/21/2019

Does the Trump corporate tax reform impact the composition of the US current account?

By Cristina Jude and Francesco Pappadà

The US Tax Cuts and Jobs Act implemented in 2018 impacts both the domestic and the international activity of US corporates. Nevertheless, the corporate tax cut has only had a transitory effect on the composition of US foreign direct investment income, without having so far delivered any significant improvement in the trade balance.

Chart 1. US primary income
Chart 1. US primary income Source: US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
Updated on 03/21/2019 16:13.
02/28/2019

Unemployment insurance: What can we learn from the US system?

By Jean-Baptiste Gossé (Banque de France) and Roger Vicquéry (London School of Economics)

A federal unemployment insurance scheme has been in place in the United States for more than 80 years. It has helped to cushion the effects of successive crises without the need for large fiscal transfers between American states. It provides an example of an unemployment insurance model based on temporary transfers and subsidiarity between federal and state governments.

Chart 1. Permanent federal transfers are limited outside periods of exceptional crisis
Chart 1. Permanent federal transfers are limited outside periods of exceptional crisis Note: Net annual transfers as a % of GDP. Exceptional crisis: increase of more than 5 percentage points in the jobless rate over 3 years. Sources: authors’ calculations based on NBER, Department of Labor and Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Updated on 02/28/2019 16:22.
02/14/2019

Is the European Union really in surplus vis-à-vis the United States?

By Rafael Cezar and Florian Le Gallo

The European Union’s exchanges with the United States generate a significant trade surplus but are also characterised by a substantial foreign direct investment deficit. This deficit reflects certain choices made by multinational firms with regard to their activities’ locations, particularly the placing of US subsidiaries in Europe. We propose an interpretation of these transatlantic exchanges using an aggregate that is broader than the balance of goods and services alone.

An expanded EU-US balance almost in equilibrium (2012 to 2017)
Chart 1: An expanded EU-US balance almost in equilibrium (2012 to 2017) Sources: Eurostat (customs data on exports of goods, non-financial services) and BEA (customs data on imports of goods, financial services, foreign direct investment flows). Authors' calculations.
Updated on 02/14/2019 16:07.
01/30/2019

The G7, an engine for multilateralism

By Ludivine Berret, Bruno Cabrillac and Céline Rochon

G7 countries activated several economic policy levers to respond to the 2008 crisis, in particular monetary and fiscal policy. As a result, their ability to stimulate the economy or deal with future crises has been reduced. Consequently, the temptation to conduct beggar-thy-neighbour policies, despite their harmful effects, could be exacerbated. Even though its weight in global GDP has declined significantly since the late 1980s, the G7—whose presidency is held by France in 2019—remains the appropriate forum for curbing this temptation.

Chart 1: Reduction of the weight of the G20 and the G7 in global GDP
Chart 1: Reduction of the weight of the G7 in global nominal GDP Source: Datastream and IMF-World Economic Outlook (WEO).
Updated on 01/31/2019 10:37.

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