Florens Odendahl
- 6 August 2026
- OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES - No. 396Details
- Abstract
- This paper introduces reduced-form macroeconometric tools, emphasising quantile regression models, to identify key risk drivers for the euro area economy and assess risks around the baseline ECB/Eurosystem staff macroeconomic projections for the euro area inflation and growth. The analysis uses a large number of risk factors, going beyond the usual financial factors, employing a sequential selection approach with robustness checks. To support the analysis a MATLAB toolbox (M@RX) was developed, incorporating several quantile regression-based model classes with a novel parametric tilting methodology and a copula approach for transforming predictive densities across frequencies. This paper contributes to the literature on the treatment of the COVID-era data in quantile regression models. Results indicate that the predictive content of risk factors is horizon, time and objective-dependent. For example, labour market indicators are particularly relevant for assessing upside inflation risks, but to a time-varying extent and with limited predictive power for downside risks. Conversely, uncertainty, money and credit indicators perform better for downside inflation risks. As regards risks to growth, the results confirm the established role of financial conditions, while also highlighting the relevance of monetary indicators, particularly for downside risks. Combined risk factor frameworks – with several different risk indicators – tend to systematically outperform single-factor specifications for density forecasting, due to complementarities across risk indicator groups. An empirical application highlights the policy relevance of these tools, as they provide timely signals and accurately track the direction of realised outcomes. Given the time-varying and state-dependent nature of their predictive performance, a regular performance assessment of the specifications is recommended to maintain reliability.
- JEL Code
- C22 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Single Equation Models, Single Variables→Time-Series Models, Dynamic Quantile Regressions, Dynamic Treatment Effect Models &bull Diffusion Processes
C53 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Econometric Modeling→Forecasting and Prediction Methods, Simulation Methods
E27 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy→Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications
E37 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles→Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications
- 6 November 2025
- OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES - No. 377Details
- Abstract
- This paper serves as a reference guide on the effects of “standard” monetary policy shocks on output and prices, based on harmonised simulation exercises conducted across models of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), meta-analysis of existing empirical literature for the euro area, and selected works on heterogeneity and non-linearities in the monetary transmission mechanism as captured by empirical models. Our analysis starts by comparing the effects of monetary policy shocks as estimated by structural, semi-structural and dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models, and identifying the main sources of heterogeneity – most notably via the specification of monetary policy rules, the slope of the Phillips curve, the role of real rigidities and financial frictions, and the expectations formation mechanism. While DSGE models tend to produce sharper responses, semi-structural models often reveal more gradual and persistent effects, in line with backward-looking empirical models. The second chapter presents a meta-analysis of estimated effects based on the empirical literature, which are broadly consistent with the results obtained from the ESCB models, although differences might appear when correcting for publication bias, or accounting for different identification frameworks. The study is then complemented by selected works on heterogeneity and non-linearities in the monetary transmission mechanism as captured by empirical models. Our analysis in the final chapter shows that monetary policy transmission is heterogeneous across countries, sectors, demand components, and time. It also reveals important non-linear and state-dependent dynamics: in high-inflation periods, greater price and wage flexibility amplifies the response of inflation while dampening output effects, thereby lowering the sacrifice ratio. [...]
- JEL Code
- C22 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Single Equation Models, Single Variables→Time-Series Models, Dynamic Quantile Regressions, Dynamic Treatment Effect Models &bull Diffusion Processes
C52 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Econometric Modeling→Model Evaluation, Validation, and Selection
D58 : Microeconomics→General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium→Computable and Other Applied General Equilibrium Models
E31 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles→Price Level, Inflation, Deflation
E52 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Monetary Policy
E58 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Central Banks and Their Policies
F45 : International Economics→Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance
- 30 June 2025
- OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES - No. 372Details
- Abstract
- This report focuses on the implications of the changed inflation environment for the ECB’s monetary policy strategy, including the lessons learned from both the low inflation and high inflation periods, and the transition from one to the other. The starting point of the report is the outcome of the Monetary Policy Strategy Review 2020-21. While the previous review was conducted in an economic environment of low inflation, with interest rates in proximity to the effective lower bound (ELB), the inflation surge that followed the COVID-19 pandemic underscores the importance of a monetary policy strategy that enables the Governing Council to effectively respond to major changes in the inflation environment.
- 5 August 2024
- WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 2968Details
- Abstract
- This paper analyses the pass-through of gas shocks to inflation in the euro area. First, it uses a Bayesian Structural Vector Autoregressive (BSVAR) framework to estimate the effects of gas supply shocks on headline inflation in the euro area and its four largest economies. A gas supply shock that increases gas prices by 10% raises euro area headline inflation by 0.6 percentage points after one year. The transmission of gas supply shocks is driven by direct and indirect effects, i.e. by households consuming gas products and by second-round effects through production costs. We document cross-country heterogeneity arising from differences in reliance on energy commodities across consumption and production, as well as from variation in the regulation of retail energy prices. Second, we build a New Keynesian Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (NK-DSGE) model augmented with energy and show that indirect effects account for approximately 75% of the cumulative response of headline inflation after three years.
- JEL Code
- C11 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General→Bayesian Analysis: General
C32 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models, Multiple Variables→Time-Series Models, Dynamic Quantile Regressions, Dynamic Treatment Effect Models, Diffusion Processes
E31 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles→Price Level, Inflation, Deflation
Q41 : Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics→Energy→Demand and Supply, Prices