scholarly journals THE MONETARY POLICY OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK IN THE PERIOD OF SOVEREIGN DEBT CRISIS

Ekonomika ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-31
Author(s):  
Deimantė Andriuškevičiūtė ◽  
Norbertas Balčiūnas

Abstract. The European Central Bank was forced to start using non-standard measures in order to manage the situation determined by the global financial and sovereign debt crisis, namely to sort out liquidity problems and expand credit supply. The European Central Bank is criticized for applying non-standard tools because of increase in inflation risk. However, the analysis shows that the inflation could be managed by the absorption of liquidity surplus. However, there is a negative side of using non-standard measures, such as a significant increase in the credit risk, which arises due to having government bonds in the balance sheet of the European Central Bank. In addition, this indicates that the European Central Bank indirectly finances governments.Key words: monetary policy, inflation, sovereign debt crisis, credit risk, quantitative easing

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Lena Högenauer ◽  
David Howarth

This article presents the argument that European Central Bank (ECB) policy-making from the start of the sovereign debt crisis in 2010 undermined the democratic legitimacy of the ECB. We start with the argument – defended by a number of scholars including Majone and Moravcsik – that where European Union (EU) policy-making is technocratic and does not have significant redistributive implications it can benefit from depoliticization that does not undermine the democratic legitimacy of this policy-making. This is notably the case where EU institutions have narrow mandates and are constrained by super-majoritarian decision-making. Prior to the international financial crisis, the ECB’s monetary policies were shaped entirely by the interpretation that its mandate was primarily to ensure low inflation. From the outbreak of the sovereign debt crisis, the ECB adopted a range of policies which pushed its role well beyond that interpretation and engaged in a form of redistribution that directly undermined treaty provisions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 345-352
Author(s):  
Michael Waibel

Abstract This article assesses the legacy of Mario Draghi as president of the European Central Bank (ECB) from 2011 to 2019, with particular reference to the Greek’s sovereign debt crisis. Most macro-economic indicators improved over the course of Draghi’s tenure at the ECB, including inflation, budget deficits, yield spreads among euro-area borrowers and unemployment. Draghi played a decisive role in turning the tide on the crisis of confidence that afflicted the euro area and threatened the survival of Europe’s single currency in the wake of Greece’s sovereign debt crisis. Yet the ECB’s unconventional policies prompted sustained controversy and contributed to a low level of trust in the central bank among people in the euro-area member states. The focus of controversy has been on possible asset-price bubbles and ‘hidden’ transfers between euro-area member states. When and how to normalize its policies is a major challenge for the ECB, as it is for other major central banks that adapted similar policies in response to the global financial crisis.


Author(s):  
Michael Ioannidis

The European Central Bank (ECB) is the only central bank governed by supranational constitutional law. As such, it is not only the most important institution of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), but it also marks a new stage in the history of central banking in general. Historically, the tasks and functions of the ECB have reflected the different stages of development of the EMU. The basic principles governing its function were set out in Maastricht, reflecting the interests and ideas about Europe’s economic constitution prevailing at that time. The sovereign debt crisis that hit Europe in 2010 was the second defining moment for the ECB after Maastricht. It posited the ECB–like the rest of the EMU–to challenges that some of the drafters of the Maastricht Treaty had not fully anticipated. These new challenges led to the adoption of novel instruments and the further clarification of fundamental rules and principles. Most important of these developments was the entrustment of the ECB with a new task, banking supervision, and the adoption of unconventional measures, which proved necessary to fulfil its monetary-policy mandate. Ultimately, not only did the ECB withstand the crisis but it emerged as a protagonist in securing the unity and integrity of the EMU.


2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (01) ◽  
pp. 57-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
AD VAN RIET

Since the start of the global financial crisis, the European Central Bank (ECB) has faced exceptional challenges in fulfilling its price stability mandate, marking the start of a new era of monetary policy-making for the eurozone. This paper reviews the ECB’s evolving response from mid-2007 to early-2015, showing how it combined the standard tool of adjusting its policy interest rates with non-standard passive and active balance-sheet measures, accompanied by a forward guidance of its intended monetary stance. Altogether, the ECB stayed focused on price stability while fulfilling the two classical roles of lender of last resort to resolve money market tensions and market maker of last resort to repair monetary transmission. Addressing the many challenges was complicated by the nexus between fragile banks and vulnerable governments, the ensuing financial fragmentation and the complex institutional and political structure of the eurozone. Looking ahead, the new reinforced European financial architecture could make the ECB’s monetary policy task of maintaining price stability for the eurozone easier to accomplish.


2011 ◽  
Vol 218 ◽  
pp. F13-F21
Author(s):  
Dawn Holland ◽  
Aurélie Delannoy ◽  
Tatiana Fic ◽  
Ian Hurst ◽  
Iana Liadze ◽  
...  

Global economic prospects have deteriorated markedly in recent months. Risks around our central forecast have shifted distinctly to the downside. Much of this is due to the heightened uncertainty surrounding Europe's sovereign debt crisis. There is widespread agreement among policymakers - ranging from the IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank to individual heads of state both within and outside the Euro Area - that resolution to the crisis requires urgent, comprehensive and coordinated action. Yet 17 months after the first bail-out programme was introduced in Greece, policymakers have failed to deliver a strategy that promises a credible prospect of growth and an end to rising debt profiles. Solvency concerns in three relatively small peripheral countries (Greece, Ireland and Portugal), combined with weakening growth across the continent, raise the dangerous spectre of illiquidity beginning to affect solvency in the larger core economies with high debt ratios - notably Italy. Left unchecked, the consequences would be severe for the world economy.


Author(s):  
Irena Pyka ◽  
Aleksandra Nocoń

Due to the implementation of non-standard monetary policy by the European Central Bank, concentrated in the first part of the financial crisis mainly on the unconventional open market operations, and in the second on the Quantitative Easing policy, the exit strategies and monetary policy normalization have become the subject of intensified discussion. The concept of a return to "normal" monetary policy of the ECB will require the implementation of two aspects: raising of interest rates and reduction of the size of central bank balance sheet. However, it is undisputed that the exit strategies of the ECB could be implemented only after completing of the asset purchase program and stabilization of euro area public finances. It seems that at this moment the monetary policy of Eurozone will have to wait. The main aim of the study is to identify the determinants of the monetary policy normalization of the European Central Bank. Particular attention will be paid to the conditions of normalization relating to the support for creation of economic recovery in the euro area, the increase of inflation towards the inflation target, stimulation of dynamics of lending activity and the situation on the financial market. The following research methods will be used: the literature studies, including domestic and foreign literature, case studies, cause and effect analysis, observation analysis as well as synthesis analysis. 


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