期刊名称：Euro Area Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Statistics
印刷版ISSN：1830-3420
电子版ISSN：1830-3439
出版年度：2000
出版社：European Central Bank
摘要：This paper analyses differences in financial structure across euro area countries and their implications for the interest rate channel of the monetary transmission mechanism. It focuses on those differences in financial structure across countries, which remain in spite of the start of Stage Three of EMU. First, the paper examines the pass-through of money market rates to various bank retail rates and measures how this has evolved over the past two interest rate cycles. An analysis of panel data suggests that current “country asymmetries” in the response of bank rates to monetary policy should decrease over time by virtue of the implementation of the single monetary policy, money market integration and the growth of debt securities markets. The paper also shows that competition among banks reduces the “interest rate cycle asymmetry” of the pass-through. Second, recent developments in the balance sheet structure of households and firms are examined. The paper shows that, at the start of Stage Three of EMU, the income effects of monetary policy are fairly homogenous in the four largest countries of the euro area, although, given the large share of bonds in the financial assets held by Italian households, wealth effects should be stronger in Italy.
