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Financial imbalances and household welfare: Empirical evidence from the EU

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  • Stracca, Livio

Abstract

This paper uses Eurobarometer survey data from 26 EU countries to evaluate whether the general public cares about financial stability and imbalances over and above their effects on macroeconomic variables such as unemployment and inflation. I confirm previous results in the literature that life satisfaction – a widely used measure of household welfare – negatively depends on the unemployment rate. In addition to previous results in the literature, I establish a strong empirical link between life satisfaction and consumer confidence as measured by the European Commission consumer survey. The main result of the paper is that life satisfaction generally does not systematically depend on a number of measures of financial imbalance based on credit and asset prices once the other macroeconomic controls are included.

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  • Stracca, Livio, 2014. "Financial imbalances and household welfare: Empirical evidence from the EU," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 11(C), pages 82-91.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finsta:v:11:y:2014:i:c:p:82-91
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfs.2013.12.001
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    Cited by:

    1. Bank for International Settlements, 2016. "Objective-setting and communication of macroprudential policies," CGFS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 57, October –.
    2. Anna Kalbhenn & Livio Stracca, 2020. "Mad about Austerity? The Effect of Fiscal Consolidation on Public Opinion," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 52(2-3), pages 531-548, March.
    3. Avdjiev, Stefan & Binder, Stephan & Sousa, Ricardo, 2021. "External debt composition and domestic credit cycles," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    4. Arnaud Joskin, 2017. "Working Paper 04-17 - Qu’est-ce qui compte pour les Belges ? Analyse des déterminants du bien-être individuel en Belgique [Working Paper 04-17 - Wat telt voor de Belgen? Analyse van de determinante," Working Papers 1704, Federal Planning Bureau, Belgium.
    5. Stracca, Livio & Kalbhenn, Anna, 2015. "Does fiscal austerity affect public opinion?," Working Paper Series 1774, European Central Bank.
    6. Philip R Lane & Livio Stracca, 2018. "Can appreciation be expansionary? Evidence from the euro area," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 33(94), pages 225-264.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Eurobarometer; Life satisfaction; Consumer confidence; Financial stability; Central bank;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook

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