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Adjustment in the Euro Area and Regulation of Product and Labour Markets: An Empirical Assessment

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  • Pietro Biroli
  • Gilles Mourre
  • Alessandro Turrini

Abstract

This paper assesses the adjustment mechanism in the euro area. Results show that the real exchange rate (REER) adjusts in such a way to redress cyclical divergences and that after monetary unification REER dynamics have become less reactive to country-specific shocks but also less persistent. It is found that regulations, notably affecting price and wage nominal flexibility and employment protection, play a role in the adjustment mechanism. Indicators of product and labour regulations appear to matter forboth the reaction of price competitiveness to cyclical divergences (differences between national and euro-area output gaps) and for the inertia of competitiveness indicators. Moreover, regulations appear to matter also for the extent to which common shocks may end up producing country-specific effects on the price competitiveness, as revealed by their interaction with proxies of unobservable common shocks along the lines of the methodology developed in Blanchard and Wolfers (2000). In light of the tendency towards less stringent regulations in past decades, the results seem consistent with the observed reduction in the persistence of inflation differentials, and has have implications for the design of adjustment-friendly product and labour market reforms.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Directorate General Economic and Monetary Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission in its series European Economy - Economic Papers with number 428.

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Length: 29 pages
Date of creation: Oct 2010
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:euf:ecopap:0428

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  1. Paul Conway & Véronique Janod & Giuseppe Nicoletti, 2005. "Product Market Regulation in OECD Countries: 1998 to 2003," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 419, OECD Publishing.
  2. S. Fabiani & M. Druant & I. Hernando & C. Kwapil & B. Landau & C. Loupias & Fernando Martins & T. Mathä & R. Sabbatini & H. Stahl & A. Stokman, 2005. "The Pricing Behaviour of Firms in the Euro Area: New Survey Evidence," Working Papers w200510, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
  3. Arpaia, Alfonso & Pichelmann, Karl, 2007. "Nominal and real wage flexibility in EMU," MPRA Paper 4364, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  4. Steinar Holden & Fredrik Wulfsberg, 2008. "Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity in the OECD," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 15.
  5. Andrea Bassanini & Romain Duval, 2006. "Employment Patterns in OECD Countries: Reassessing the Role of Policies and Institutions," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 35, OECD Publishing.
  6. Paul Conway & Giuseppe Nicoletti, 2006. "Product Market Regulation in the Non-Manufacturing Sectors of OECD Countries: Measurement and Highlights," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 530, OECD Publishing.
  7. Steinar Holden, 2004. "The Costs of Price Stability: Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity in Europe," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 71(281), pages 183-208, 05.
  8. Romain Duval & Jørgen Elmeskov & Lukas Vogel, 2007. "Structural Policies and Economic Resilience to Shocks," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 567, OECD Publishing.
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Cited by:
  1. Martin Larch & Paul van den Noord & Lars Jonung, 2010. "The Stability and Growth Pact: Lessons from the Great Recession," European Economy - Economic Papers 429, Directorate General Economic and Monetary Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
  2. Hanan Morsy & Florence Jaumotte, 2012. "Determinants of Inflation in the Euro Area: The Role of Labor and Product Market Institutions," IMF Working Papers 12/37, International Monetary Fund.
  3. Helge Berger & Volker Nitsch, 2010. "The Euro's Effect on Trade Imbalances," IMF Working Papers 10/226, International Monetary Fund.

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