Money and housing: evidence for the euro area and the US

This paper examines the relation between money and housing variables in the euro area and in the US. Our empirical model is based on a standard money demand relation which is augmented by housing market variables. In doing so, co-integrated money demand relationships can be established for both the euro area and the US. Furthermore, we find evidence for asset inflation channels, that is, liquidity fuels housing market developments. --money demand,asset inflation,housing,wealth

Money demand and macroeconomic uncertainty

In this study we construct a measure of macroeconomic uncertainty from several observable economic indicators for the euro area. Indicator variables are based on financial market data, such as medium-term returns, loss and volatility measures but also come from surveys that capture business and consumer sentiment. From these we estimate the path of underlying macroeconomic uncertainty using an unobserved components model. Employing cointegration analysis it is demonstrated that the extracted measures of uncertainty help to explain the increase in euro area M3 over the period 2001 to 2004. Similar evidence can be found for US monetary aggregates. --Money demand,Macroeconomic Uncertainty,Excess Liquidity

Money and housing: Evidence for the euro area and the US

This paper examines the relation between money and housing variables in the euro area and in the US. Our empirical model is based on a standard money demand relation which is augmented by housing market variables. In doing so, co-integrated money demand relationships can be established for both the euro area and the US. Furthermore, we find evidence for asset inflation channels, that is, liquidity fuels housing market developments

Money demand and macroeconomic uncertainty

In this study we construct a measure of macroeconomic uncertainty from several observable economic indicators for the euro area. Indicator variables are based on financial market data, such as medium-term returns, loss and volatility measures but also come from surveys that capture business and consumer sentiment. From these we estimate the path of underlying macroeconomic uncertainty using an unobserved components model. Employing cointegration analysis it is demonstrated that the extracted measures of uncertainty help to explain the increase in euro area M3 over the period 2001 to 2004. Similar evidence can be found for US monetary aggregates

Access to and use of marine genetic resources : understanding the legal framework

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. Acknowledgements This work was supported by the PharmaSea project funded by the EU Seventh Framework Programme, and reects only the authors' views. Contract number 312184. www.pharma-sea.eu.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The determinants of recent developments in bank loans in France and Germany (in french).

Over the recent period, developments in bank loans to the private sector in the euro area have diverged significantly across countries. While France, like most euro area countries, has seen rapid growth in bank loans since 2004 mainly due to the sharp increase in housing loans, Germany has been characterized over the past four years by a persistent stagnation of bank lending as regards both credit to non-financial corporations and loans to households. The paper presents an empirical description of the main macroeconomic factors that may explain developments in loans and determine whether the trends currently observed in France and Germany are exceptional or not in the light of past experience in both countries. To this end, the analysis relies on the modelling of loan developments in real terms, with the main explanatory variables being real GDP growth, the investment-to-GDP ratio, the nominal interest rate and yield spreads between corporate and government bonds. The analysis of causality relationships – in the sense of Granger causality – between these explanatory variables and loan-related variables supports the assumption that in the French case, the growth rate of bank loans is an endogenous variable, which does not appear to structurally affect real activity. In other words, credit developments appear to hinge much more on real economic activity than vice versa. Conversely, in the German case, results suggest that causality could run in both directions, as credit growth seems to be simultaneously cause and consequence of real economic variables. Moreover, the study of impulse response functions following shocks simulated on loans shows that the assumption of a possible one-off influence of credit supply on real activity cannot be ruled out, neither in France nor in Germany.

Payments for Ecosystem Services: Legal and Institutional Frameworks

Analysis and engagement with partners working on ecosystem services transactions, policies and laws over the past 10 years have demonstrated a clear need to better understand the legal and institutional frameworks that have the potential to promote or hinder the development of payments for ecosystem services (PES) schemes, as well as the complex legal considerations that affect ecosystem services projects. In response, the IUCN Environmental Law Centre and The Katoomba Group have worked on a joint initiative to analyze the legal and institutional frameworks of water-related PES schemes and projects in four Andean countries: South America (Northeastern)-Brazil; Bolivia, Colombia and Peru. It has resulted in this report. Country-based analysts with experience in ecosystem services transactions have developed country and project assessments to define existing and recommend future regulatory and institutional frameworks that enable equitable and long-lasting ecosystem services transactions. Partners from North America (Central America)-Costa Rica; North America-Mexico; Ecuador and the North America-United States provided feedback on the assessments. The country assessments yielded lessons which were used to develop a set of recommendations on legal frameworks, property rights, enabling institutions, PES contracts, and governance issues supporting the future development of PES schemes

Towards an empirical analysis of justice in ecosystem governance

The 2010 Nagoya Protocol under the Convention on Biological Diversity and recent changes in the policies of major international conservation organizations highlight current interest in revisiting the moral case for conservation. Concerns with equity and human rights challenge well-established notions of justice centered on human responsibility toward nature, the common good or the rights of future generations. This review introduces an empirical approach to the analysis of justice and shows how conservation scientists can apply it to ecosystem services-based governance (or in short, ecosystem governance). It identifies dominant notions of justice and points out their compatibility with utilitarian theories of justice. It then discusses the limited appropriateness of these notions in many contexts in which conservation takes place in the Global South and explores how technical components of ecosystem governance influence the realization of the notions in practice. The review highlights the need for conservation scientists and managers to analyze the justice of ecosystem governance in addition to their effectiveness and efficiency. Justice offers a more encompassing perspective than equity for the empirical analysis of conservation governance