Michael Ehrmann

Author

Staff working papers

Starting from a Blank Page? Semantic Similarity in Central Bank Communication and Market Volatility

Staff Working Paper 2016-37 Michael Ehrmann, Jonathan Talmi
Press releases announcing and explaining monetary policy decisions play a critical role in the communication strategy of central banks. Because of their market-moving potential, it is particularly important how they are drafted. Often, central banks start from the previous statement and update the earlier text with only small changes.

Financial Inclusion—What’s it Worth?

Staff Working Paper 2016-30 Miguel Ampudia, Michael Ehrmann
The paper studies the determinants of being unbanked in the euro area and the United States as well as the effects of being unbanked on wealth accumulation. Based on household-level data from The Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey and the U.S. Survey of Consumer Finances, it first documents that there are, respectively, 3.6 per cent and 7.5 per cent of unbanked households in the two economies.

Exploring Differences in Household Debt Across Euro Area Countries and the United States

We use internationally comparable household-level data for ten euro area economies and the United States to investigate cross-country differences in debt holdings and the potential of debt overhang.

Euro Area Government Bonds—Integration and Fragmentation During the Sovereign Debt Crisis

Staff Working Paper 2015-13 Michael Ehrmann, Marcel Fratzscher
The paper analyzes the integration of euro area sovereign bond markets during the European sovereign debt crisis. It tests for contagion (i.e., an intensification in the transmission of shocks across countries), fragmentation (a reduction in spillovers) and flight-to-quality patterns, exploiting the heteroskedasticity of intraday changes in bond yields for identification.

Targeting Inflation from Below - How Do Inflation Expectations Behave?

Staff Working Paper 2014-52 Michael Ehrmann
Inflation targeting (IT) had originally been introduced as a device to bring inflation down and stabilize it at low levels. Given the current environment of persistently weak inflation in many advanced economies, IT central banks must now bring inflation up to target.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Inflation targets JEL Code(s): C, C5, C53, E, E3, E31, E5, E52, E58

Consumer Attitudes and the Epidemiology of Inflation Expectations

Staff Working Paper 2014-28 Michael Ehrmann, Damjan Pfajfar, Emiliano Santoro
This paper studies the formation of consumers’ inflation expectations using micro-level data from the Michigan Survey. It shows that beyond the well-established socio-economic determinants of inflation expectations such as gender, income or education, other characteristics such as the households’ financial situation and their purchasing attitudes also matter.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation and prices JEL Code(s): C, C5, C53, D, D8, D84, E, E3, E31

Macroeconomic Experiences and Risk Taking of Euro Area Households

Staff Working Paper 2014-10 Miguel Ampudia, Michael Ehrmann
This paper studies to what extent the experiences of households shape their willingness to take financial risks. It follows the methodology of Malmendier and Nagel (2011) and applies it to a novel data set on household finances covering euro area households.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Sectoral balance sheet JEL Code(s): D, D0, D03, D1, D14, D8, D83, G, G1, G11

It Hurts (Stock Prices) When Your Team Is About to Lose a Soccer Match

Staff Working Paper 2014-2 Michael Ehrmann, David-Jan Jansen
The end result of major sporting events has been shown to affect next-day stock returns through shifts in investor mood. By studying the soccer matches that led to the elimination of France and Italy from the 2010 FIFA World Cup, we show that mood-related pricing effects can materialize as sporting events unfold.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Asset pricing, Financial markets JEL Code(s): G, G0, G02, G1, G12, G14, G15

Household Risk Management and Actual Mortgage Choice in the Euro Area

Staff Working Paper 2014-1 Michael Ehrmann, Michael Ziegelmeyer
Mortgages constitute the largest part of household debt. An essential choice when taking out a mortgage is between fixed-interest-rate mortgages (FRMs) and adjustable-interest-rate mortgages (ARMs). However, so far, no comprehensive cross‐country study has analyzed what determines household demand for mortgage types, a task that this paper takes up using new data for the euro area.

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