The Policy Mix in the US and EMU: Evidence from a SVAR Analysis
JOURNAL
The North American Journal of Economics and Finance
YEAR
Nov 9, 2018
TYPE
Articles in journals
AUTHORS
Afonso, A, Gonçalves, L.
VOL Nº
to appear
PAGES
ABSTRACT
We use a SVAR approach to the effects of fiscal and monetary policies, as well as their interactions (policy mix) for the US and the Euro Area (EMU). Overall, our results show that these two cases are different from each other. First, while in the case of the US there is evidence of Keynesian monetary policy, the same is not true in the case of the EMU. Second, considering the effects of the global economic and financial crisis, there is evidence of non-Keynesian fiscal policy in the case of the EMU (expansionary fiscal consolidation), while it does not hold in the case of the US. Third, there is evidence supporting the traditional inverse relationship between monetary policy interest rates and inflation in the case of the US, whereas in the case of the EMU there is a price puzzle (frequent in SVAR studies). Fourth, the baseline model seems to be robust in the case of the US, when considering the effects of the economic and financial crisis 2007–2009, while the opposite holds in the case of the EMU. However, in both cases, the policies seem to act as complements. Another similarity appears when analysing the relationship between public spending and taxation, where there is evidence supporting a fiscal retrenchment.
JEL CLASS
E52;E61; E62; E63; H50; H60
KEYWORDS
Fiscal policy; Monetary policy; Crisis; Unconventional monetary policy; US; EMU