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Post n°66

Central bank collateral policy and bank lending

Published on 05/14/2018

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Christophe Cahn, Anne Duquerroy, Jean-Stéphane Mésonnier, Charles O’Donnell and Olivier Toutain

Central banks have adopted new unprecedented strategies to fight recent financial crises. In the euro area in 2012, one such tool allowed banks to use a wider set of corporate loans as guarantees when they borrow from the Eurosystem. Two recent studies show that this policy has been critical in fostering banks’ lending to firms during the crisis.

Chart 1: Comparative trends in credit for newly eligible firms Source: Cahn, Duquerroy and Mullins (2017).
Updated on 02/14/2020 16:02
Post n°65

The labour share in value added: a complex assessment

Published on 05/09/2018

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By Gilbert Cette and Jean-François Ouvrard

Changes in the value added sharing are the focus of considerable debate. In France, the assessment depends largely on the scope of analysis chosen and the degree to which it is aggregated, and it differs depending on the sector: since the crisis, the labour share has increased in market services but has declined in industry.

Chart 1: Labour share in value added (% of the cost of labour in gross value added at factor costs) Source: Insee, authors’ calculations
Updated on 02/14/2020 15:43
Post n°64

A lower net investment rate than at the end of the 1990s

Published on 05/07/2018

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By Pierre Sicsic

In France, the gross investment rate of non-financial corporations is trending upwards, and was half a percentage point higher in 2016 than its previous peak of 2007-2008. However, after deducting capital depreciation, the net investment rate, which corresponds to the increase in productive capital, was one percentage point lower than its 2008 peak and equivalent to its mid-2000s level. The acceleration in depreciation stems from the increase in both capital per unit produced and in the average depreciation rate, which is itself linked to the greater share of intangible assets in investment.

Chart 1: Real gross and net investment rate in France (NFCs-IEs approximation) Sources: National Accounts tables 6.302 and 6.462. The nominal investment rate of NFCs was 23.3% in 2008 and 2016, table 7.101.
Updated on 02/14/2020 15:12
Post n°63

Is short-time work an effective job protection policy?

Published on 05/04/2018

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By Sandra Nevoux (with Pierre Cahuc and Francis Kramarz)

Short-time work schemes have been implemented in many OECD countries with a view to protecting jobs in companies experiencing temporary difficulties. While such schemes made it possible to save jobs during the Great Recession of 2008-2009, they may also have adverse effects on the economy. However, these effects would be minimised by sensible reforms.

Chart 1. Short-time work and growth Source: OECD.
Updated on 02/14/2020 15:00
Post n°62

GDP-indexed bonds: a solution to debt crises?

Published on 04/19/2018

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By Bruno Cabrillac, Ludovic Gauvin, Jean-Baptiste Gossé and Florian Lalanne

In countries with very high public debt, a major shock could prevent the implementation of countercyclical fiscal policies and increase default risk. GDP-indexed bonds would help to mitigate these risks and avoid a costly and disruptive restructuring. A counterfactual analysis of the Greek case illustrates this idea.

Chart 1. Greek public debt: observed data and scenario without restructuring with GDP-indexed bonds (% of GDP). Source: IMF and authors’ calculations. * In 2012, Greek public debt was restructured through private sector involvement requiring a EUR 107 billion haircut.
Updated on 02/13/2020 12:05
Post n°61

Imports from low-wage countries: what gains for households?

Published on 04/17/2018

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By Juan Carluccio, Erwan Gautier and Sophie Guilloux-Nefussi

The share of imports from low-wage countries in French households’ consumption increased threefold from 1994 to 2014. These less expensive imports lowered inflation in France by 0.17 pp per year on average. This direct effect of imports since 1994 represented a gain of about EUR 1,000 in terms of average household consumption in 2014. However, the indirect effects of opening up to international trade on households’ purchasing power, via wages and employment, were not taken into account.

Chart 1: Share of imports in households’ consumption (in %) Source: Carluccio et al. (2018) based on Customs and INSEE data Note: Only imports of final goods that are included in household consumption are taken into account.
Updated on 02/13/2020 11:24
Post n°60

Increase in the employment of seniors in the euro area

Published on 04/13/2018

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By Violaine Faubert and Antoine Lalliard

Since 2008, the over-50s are the only age group in the euro area to have seen a steady rise in employment, as a result of population ageing and the increase in the effective pension age. In contrast, the number of those under 50 in work has fallen markedly over the same period, despite a recent stabilisation in the trend. The over-60s are the only group not to have seen an improvement in gross hourly wages between 2010 and 2014.

Chart 1: Number of people in work in the euro area by age group and for the entire population aged 15-74. Difference relative to the first quarter of 2008 (thousands). Source: Eurostat
Updated on 02/21/2020 15:01
Post n°59

A post-depreciation view of the non-financial corporations account

Published on 04/11/2018

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By Pierre Sicsic

In France in 2016, the gross margin rate of non-financial corporations (NFCs) returned to its early 2000s level, at 32%, while the net margin rate was 15%, compared with 18% in the 2000s. Thus, using aggregates "net" of capital depreciation gives a different picture of the NFCs account. Furthermore, the NFCs' net saving rate would be close to zero, and their stock of fixed capital could only increase through external financing.

Chart 1: gross and net margin rates of French NFCs Source: Insee, table 7.101 – non-financial corporations account (S11).
Updated on 02/21/2020 14:51
Post n°58

The economic impact of budget-neutral measures

Published on 04/04/2018

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By Matthieu Bussière, Laurent Ferrara, Michel Juillard and Daniele Siena

This study shows that budget-neutral measures – i.e. changes in the composition of fiscal revenue and spending that leave the ex-ante total government budget unchanged – can boost economic growth. However, not all households are equally affected by these measures. In addition, measures implemented when monetary policy is accommodative have larger macro effects.

Figure 1: GDP and private investment Figure taken from Bussière et al (2017)
Updated on 02/21/2020 14:43
Post n°57

US fiscal policy: growth at any cost?

Published on 03/30/2018

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By Marie-Élisabeth de la Serve, Sophie Haincourt, Clément Marsilli

Less than two months after the adoption of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which cut individual income tax and corporate tax, US Congress passed a budget agreement that increases public spending for 2018 and 2019. The effects on the US economy represent a two-edged sword: an additional 1.4 percentage point of GDP over two years, but a widening of the trade and budget deficits to 4% and 6% of GDP respectively. The recent dollar depreciation may reflect the growing concerns of international investors

Chart1 – United States: federal budget balance and economic cycle since 1960 Sources: Data from the Bureau of Fiscal Service, Bureau of Labor Statistics and CBO; authors' calculations.
Updated on 02/21/2020 14:29
Post n°56

Predicting financial crises: a balancing act

Published on 03/28/2018

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By Julien Idier and Virginie Coudert

Were it easy to predict financial crises, it would be just as easy for the macroprudential authorities to prevent them. The statistical methods used for forecasting financial crises are greatly improving but have to contend with the fact that such events are (fortunately) rare and occur suddenly. In this article, we discuss the usefulness of early warning systems as well as their limitations on the grounds that the financial system is constantly evolving.

Updated on 02/20/2020 17:30
Post n°55

The labour supply of baby boomers and low-flation

Published on 03/23/2018

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By Benoit Mojon and Xavier Ragot

The weakness of wage inflation may result in part from the increasing participation of older workers in the labour market. Over the last two decades, the participation rate of workers aged 55 to 64 has increased from 33% to 55% on average across OECD countries. We observe that, since 2013, the countries where this increase in labour supply has been the largest have also experienced slower wage inflation.

Figure 1: Wage inflation and the participation of older workers in the G7
Updated on 02/20/2020 17:23

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