IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/68518.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Cross-border finance, trade imbalances and competitiveness in the euro area

Author

Listed:
  • Gabrisch, Hubert

Abstract

The nearly exclusive explanation for current account imbalances in the euro area blames real economy differences between countries, prominently the competitiveness of the participating states. This essay questions the common opinion that wage policy is crucial for rebalancing the European economies. This essay attempts to unfurl the real economy processes from the perspective of money and finance. This essay identifies an interregional asset-price-interest mechanism at work in the monetary union: A general change in the state of confidence provokes asset prices and the effective long-run interest rate to change and to affect aggregate demand and trade flows. A change in competitive positions of countries follows as the second-round effect. The policy implications prefer a downscaling of the financial sector against government interventions into wage formation.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabrisch, Hubert, 2015. "Cross-border finance, trade imbalances and competitiveness in the euro area," MPRA Paper 68518, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:68518
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/68518/1/MPRA_paper_68518.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ansgar Belke & Gunther Schnabl & Holger Zemanek, 2013. "Real Convergence, Capital Flows, and Competitiveness in Central and Eastern Europe," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(5), pages 886-900, November.
    2. Nathaniel Frank & Heiko Hesse, 2009. "Financial Spillovers to Emerging Markets during the Global Financial Crisis," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 59(6), pages 507-521, December.
    3. Daniel Detzer & Eckhard Hein, 2014. "Finance-dominated capitalism in Germany – deep recession and quick recovery," Working papers wpaper54, Financialisation, Economy, Society & Sustainable Development (FESSUD) Project.
    4. Kalemli-Ozcan, Sebnem & Papaioannou, Elias & Peydró, José-Luis, 2010. "What lies beneath the euro's effect on financial integration? Currency risk, legal harmonization, or trade?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 75-88, May.
    5. Edward J. McKenna & Diane C. Zannoni, 1990. "The Relation between the Rate of Interest and Investment in Post-Keynesian and Neo-Ricardian Analysis," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 133-143, Apr-Jun.
    6. Mariarosaria Comunale & Jeroen Hessel, 2014. "Current account imbalances in the Euro area: Competitiveness or financial cycle?," DNB Working Papers 443, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    7. Hubert Gabrisch & Karsten Staehr, 2015. "The Euro Plus Pact: Competitiveness and External Capital Flows in the EU Countries," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 558-576, May.
    8. Amit Bhaduri, 2011. "Financialization in the Light of Keynesian Theory," PSL Quarterly Review, Economia civile, vol. 64(256), pages 7-21.
    9. Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira, 2010. "The global financial crisis and a new capitalism?," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 499-534, July.
    10. Engelbert Stockhammer, 2011. "Peripheral Europe's debt and German wages: the role of wage policy in the Euro area," International Journal of Public Policy, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 7(1/2/3), pages 83-96.
    11. Tobin, James, 1969. "A General Equilibrium Approach to Monetary Theory," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 1(1), pages 15-29, February.
    12. Jörg Bibow & Andrea Terzi (ed.), 2007. "Euroland and the World Economy," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-37755-4, October.
    13. Claudio Borio & Piti Disyatat, 2015. "Capital flows and the current account: Taking financing (more) seriously," BIS Working Papers 525, Bank for International Settlements.
    14. Ruo Chen & Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti & Thierry Tressel, 2013. "External imbalances in the eurozone [Trade effects of the euro: evidence from sectoral data]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 28(73), pages 101-142.
    15. Daniel Detzer & Nina Dodig & Trevor Evans & Eckhard Hein & Hansjörg Herr, 2013. "Studies in Financial Systems No 3 The German Financial System," FESSUD studies fstudy03, Financialisation, Economy, Society & Sustainable Development (FESSUD) Project.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gabrisch, Hubert, 2016. "Die Kapitalmarktunion: eine zweifelhafte Vision [The Capital Market Union - a dubios vision]," MPRA Paper 72287, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hubert Gabrisch, 2017. "Explaining trade imbalances in the euro area: Liquidity preference and the role of finance," PSL Quarterly Review, Economia civile, vol. 70(281), pages 155-184.
    2. Hubert Gabrisch, 2015. "Net Capital Flows To And The Real Exchange Rate Of Western Balkan Countries," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 60(205), pages 31-52, April – J.
    3. Ronny Mazzocchi & Roberto Tamborini, 2019. "Current Account Imbalances and the Euro Area: Alternative Views," EconPol Working Paper 27, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    4. Walter Paternesi Meloni, 2017. "Austerity & Competitiveness in the Eurozone: a misleading linkage," Departmental Working Papers of Economics - University 'Roma Tre' 0223, Department of Economics - University Roma Tre.
    5. Enno Schröder, 2015. "Eurozone Imbalances: Measuring the Contribution of Expenditure Switching and Expenditure Volumes 1990-2013," Working Papers 1508, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics, revised Sep 2015.
    6. Eckhard Hein, 2012. "The Macroeconomics of Finance-Dominated Capitalism – and its Crisis," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14931.
    7. Claudius Graebner & Philipp Heimberger & Jakob Kapeller & Bernhard Schuetz, 2017. "Is Europe disintegrating? Macroeconomic divergence, structural polarization, trade and fragility," ICAE Working Papers 64, Johannes Kepler University, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy.
    8. Paternesi Meloni, Walter, 2016. "Austerity and competitiveness in the Eurozone: a misleading linkage," MPRA Paper 75962, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Caiani, Alessandro & Catullo, Ermanno & Gallegati, Mauro, 2019. "The effects of alternative wage regimes in a monetary union: A multi-country agent based-stock flow consistent model," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 389-416.
    10. Ronny Mazzocchi & Roberto Tamborini, 2021. "Current account imbalances and the Euro Area. Controversies and policy lessons," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 38(1), pages 203-234, April.
    11. Staehr, Karsten & Vermeulen, Robert, 2016. "How competitiveness shocks affect macroeconomic performance across euro area countries," Working Paper Series 1940, European Central Bank.
    12. Duncan van Limbergen & Robert Vermeulen, 2020. "The importance of value chains for euro area trade: a time series perspective," Working Papers 672, DNB.
    13. Roberto Tamborini, 2017. "Europe at the Interdependence War," EconPol Working Paper 2, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    14. Walter Paternesi Meloni, 2018. "Italy’s Price Competitiveness: An Empirical Assessment Through Export Elasticities," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(3), pages 421-462, November.
    15. Storm, Servaas & Naastepad, C.W.M., 2015. "Crisis and recovery in the German economy: The real lessons," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 11-24.
    16. Esposito, Piero & Messori, Marcello, 2019. "Competitive or recession gains? On the recent macroeconomic rebalances in the EMU," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 147-167.
    17. Daniele Siena, 2021. "The Euro Area Periphery and Imbalances: Is it an Anticipation Story?," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 40, pages 278-308, April.
    18. Hubert Gabrisch & Karsten Staehr, 2015. "The Euro Plus Pact: Competitiveness and External Capital Flows in the EU Countries," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 558-576, May.
    19. Michael Hachula & Michele Piffer & Malte Rieth, 2020. "Unconventional Monetary Policy, Fiscal Side Effects, and Euro Area (Im)balances," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(1), pages 202-231.
    20. Jörg Bibow, 2019. "20 years of the German euro are more than enough," Revista de Economia Critica, Asociacion de Economia Critica, vol. 27, pages 32-46.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial flows; liquidity-preference; trade imbalances; competitiveness; euro area;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E1 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models
    • E4 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates
    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade
    • F3 - International Economics - - International Finance
    • G1 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:68518. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.