Mixing QE and Interest Rate Policies at the Effective Lower Bound: Micro Evidence from the Euro Area
Christian Bittner, Alexander Rodnyansky, Farzad Saidi, Yannick Timmer
Review of Finance,
forthcoming
Abstract
We study the interaction of expansionary rate-based monetary policy and quantitative easing, despite their concurrent implementation, by exploiting heterogeneous banks and the introduction of negative monetary-policy rates in a fragmented euro area. Quantitative easing increases credit supply less, translating into weaker employment growth, when banks’ funding costs do not decrease. Using administrative data from Germany, we uncover that among banks selling their securities, central-bank reserves remain disproportionately with high-deposit banks that are constrained due to sticky customer deposits at the zero lower bound. Affected German banks lend relatively less to firms while increasing their interbank exposure in the euro area.
Read article
Is There an Information Channel of Monetary Policy?
Oliver Holtemöller, Alexander Kriwoluzky, Boreum Kwak
Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics,
forthcoming
Abstract
Exploiting the heteroskedasticity of the changes in short-term and long-term interest rates and exchange rates around the FOMC announcement, we identify three structural monetary policy shocks. We eliminate the predictable part of the shocks and study their effects on financial variables and macro variables. The first shock resembles a conventional monetary policy shock, and the second resembles an unconventional monetary shock. The third shock leads to an increase in interest rates, stock prices, industrial production, consumer prices, and commodity prices. At the same time, the excess bond premium and uncertainty decrease, and the U.S. dollar depreciates. Therefore, this third shock combines all the characteristics of a central bank information shock.
Read article
A Rear-mirror View to the 11th FIN-FIRE “Challenges to Financial Stability” Workshop
Erik Ködel, Michael Koetter
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 3,
2025
Abstract
On September 25th, financial economists from all over the world travelled for the 11th time to Halle (Saale) to attend the annual FIN-FIRE Workshop at IWH. During two days, authors of ten papers covered a comprehensive overview of contemporary issues that pose potential challenges to the financial system, including data privacy in mortgage markets, climate risks in bond markets, synthetic risk transfers, the effects of geopolitical risks for lending, as well as granular perspectives on the transmission of monetary policy. An intense exchange of thoughts between authors, discussants, and the audience yielded genuinely new insights into the resilience and fragility of financial systems.
Read article
Halle Institute for Economic Research
Energy Price Shock Dampens Recovery – Inflation Rises Although the leading economic research institutes, in their joint spring forecast, consider the German economy to be in a…
See page
IWH-CompNet 5th FINPRO
IWH-CompNet 5th Finance and Productivity Conference 24-25 April, 2026 - Tokyo, Japan The IWH-CompNet 5th Finance and Productivity Conference (FINPRO5), held on 24–25 April 2026 at…
See page
Wirtschaft im Wandel
Wirtschaft im Wandel Die Zeitschrift „Wirtschaft im Wandel“ unterrichtet die breite Öffentlichkeit über aktuelle Themen der Wirtschaftsforschung. Sie stellt wirtschaftspolitisch…
See page
Alumni
Alumni IWH provides guidance and support in job placement after graduation, including letters of recommendation and career advice. Graduates have found placements in academia…
See page
Research Clusters
Three Research Clusters Each IWH research group is assigned to a topic-oriented research cluster. The clusters are not separate organisational units, but rather bundle the…
See page
Research Articles
Research Articles Explore cutting-edge research based on CompNet’s micro-aggregated firm-level data and related analytical tools. These articles cover empirical and theoretical…
See page
TSI Concluding Conference – March 17-18, 2025, Berlin
TSI Concluding Conference 17-18 March 2025 in Berlin The TSI Concluding Conference , held in Berlin on March 17–18, 2025 , brought together key stakeholders from across the TSI…
See page