Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/19685 
Year of Publication: 
2007
Series/Report no.: 
Discussion Paper Series 1 No. 2007,08
Publisher: 
Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt a. M.
Abstract: 
Inflation differentials within European Monetary Union (EMU) are increasingly seen as exerting adverse effects on the price competitiveness of member countries' firms and – given the common monetary policy within EMU – as being detrimental to euro-area economies, in particular to those with relatively high inflation rates. Using three simple measures of international price competitiveness for EMU countries, the paper analyses whether these indicators have displayed distinctive trends since the start of EMU and whether they converge with or diverge from their respective fundamental value. It is found that all three indicators suggest a gain in competitiveness for the German economy and a corresponding loss for Italy, Portugal and Spain. Two of the indicators, however, suggest that these trends reduce former disparities and, thus, contribute to a convergence of competitiveness within EMU while the third would imply the opposite.
Subjects: 
Price competitiveness
EMU
purchasing power parity
productivity approach
panel unit root tests
panel cointegration
JEL: 
E31
F36
F31
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
393.26 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.