Práce vysvětluje mechanismy, pomocí nichž se opatření měnové politiky Evropské centrální banky dostávají do reálné ekonomiky a cenové hladiny. Objasňuje hlavní příčiny heterogenity působení jednotné měnové politiky v zemích Evropské měnové unie. Zaměřuje se na úrokový kanál transmisního mechanismu a vysvětluje jeho asymetrické působení v zemích eurozóny na základě odlišných strukturálních charakteristik národních finančních trhů a reálných ekonomik.

This thesis aims to examine the effect of European Central Bank's (ECB) oral communication on the financial systemic stress in the euro area. It considers ad-hoc speeches and interviews by the members of the ECB Governing Coun- cil as well as official press conferences between July 2008 and January 2014. The empirical analysis tests the effects of communication intensity and senti- ment and whether they differ in different stress regimes. Regression results of ARIMA based models and Threshold auto-regressive model suggest that oc- currence of official press conference increases the systemic stress, sentiment of communication matters only in the case of the ad-hoc speeches and interviews, but mainly that both the official and unofficial oral communication have a con- siderably stronger effect in periods of heightened systemic stress. Although the estimated effects are rather small, this thesis provides support for the hypoth- esis that ECB communication can affect the systemic stress. i

<p>Av flera anledningar har i många länder mål för prisstabilitet ersatt den aktiva stabiliseringspolitiken där mål för nationalprodukt och sysselsättning stått i centrum. Centralbanker bedriver och har bedrivit penningpolitik för att uppnå prisstabilitet på olika sätt och det ärdenna fråga som står i fokus i denna uppsats. Detta aktualiseras ytterligare då den europeiska centralbanken (ECB) är i ett startskede vad det gäller att bedriva penningpolitik med prisstabilitet som primärt mål. I detta perspektiv är det av intresse att studera Bundesbank närmare då denna under relativt lång tid bedrivit penningpolitik inriktad på prisstabilitet. För att belysa frågan om penningpolitik har, efter en teoretisk presentation, en empirisk studie av Bundesbank genomförts. Den studerade perioden sträcker sig från 1975 fram till 1996. Grunden för arbetet är följande frågeställningar: (1)Hur framgångsrik har Bundesbank varit med sin penningpolitik? (2)I vad mån har monetarismens läror satt sina spår i Bundesbanks penningpolitik? (3)Diskussion om ECB:s framtid med beaktande av de kunskaper studiet av Bundesbank ger. Bundesbank kan sägas ha bedrivit penningpolitik med prisstabilitet som primärt mål relativt framgångsrikt. Vissa fakta talar för att det är Bundesbanks styrka som institution, där transparens och trovärdighet spelat en stor roll, som ligger bakom framgången. Monetarismen kan sägas ha lämnat ett avtryck i Bundesbanks penningpolitik i form av en viss överhängande prägel på den penningpolitiska designen. I praktiken är dock spåren från monetarismen vaga. Penningmängdens betydelse vid genomförandet av penningpolitiken kan ifrågasättas. Den kanske viktigaste lärdomen är nog hur Bundesbank fungerat som institution.</p>

Av flera anledningar har i många länder mål för prisstabilitet ersatt den aktiva stabiliseringspolitiken där mål för nationalprodukt och sysselsättning stått i centrum. Centralbanker bedriver och har bedrivit penningpolitik för att uppnå prisstabilitet på olika sätt och det ärdenna fråga som står i fokus i denna uppsats. Detta aktualiseras ytterligare då den europeiska centralbanken (ECB) är i ett startskede vad det gäller att bedriva penningpolitik med prisstabilitet som primärt mål. I detta perspektiv är det av intresse att studera Bundesbank närmare då denna under relativt lång tid bedrivit penningpolitik inriktad på prisstabilitet. För att belysa frågan om penningpolitik har, efter en teoretisk presentation, en empirisk studie av Bundesbank genomförts. Den studerade perioden sträcker sig från 1975 fram till 1996. Grunden för arbetet är följande frågeställningar: (1)Hur framgångsrik har Bundesbank varit med sin penningpolitik? (2)I vad mån har monetarismens läror satt sina spår i Bundesbanks penningpolitik? (3)Diskussion om ECB:s framtid med beaktande av de kunskaper studiet av Bundesbank ger. Bundesbank kan sägas ha bedrivit penningpolitik med prisstabilitet som primärt mål relativt framgångsrikt. Vissa fakta talar för att det är Bundesbanks styrka som institution, där transparens och trovärdighet spelat en stor roll, som ligger bakom framgången. Monetarismen kan sägas ha lämnat ett avtryck i Bundesbanks penningpolitik i form av en viss överhängande prägel på den penningpolitiska designen. I praktiken är dock spåren från monetarismen vaga. Penningmängdens betydelse vid genomförandet av penningpolitiken kan ifrågasättas. Den kanske viktigaste lärdomen är nog hur Bundesbank fungerat som institution.

A novel mirror finishing method using a conductive polymer as the tool electrode is presented. It has been known that the conductive polymers have many advantages, such as to conduct a micro-current, to be easily processed into various shapes, to hold abrasives, and to have an excellent wear resistance. The effects of particle size, machining time, concentration of electrolyte, working current, and load on the surface roughness and the removal depth of SUS-304 stainless steel are investigated.When the operative parameters are set for the particle size of 3 £gm, the concentration of electrolyte of 10 wt%, the working current ranged from 10 to 20 mA, and the load of 10 N, the surface roughness Rmax, which originally is 1.4 £gm, can be reduced to 0.17~0.24 £gm after the machining time of 3 min. The surface roughness Ra can be achieved to 7.897 nm under the optimal condition. In addition, experimental results show that there is an optimal region of the working current at the concentration of electrolyte of 10 wt%. According to the surface profiles and SEM micrographs, three machining regions can be classified as (1) the mechanical polishing region, (2) the electro-chemical buffing (ECB) region, and (3) the excessive corrosion region. To achieve a high-quality mirror-like surface, the machining region must be operated at the ECB region.

This thesis is the first study that provides comprehensive empirical evidence on both the impacts of the target interest rate news from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) on the Australian financial markets, and the spillover effects of the target interest rate news from the US Federal Reserves (Fed) and the European Central Bank (ECB) on the Asia Pacific's equity and currency markets. This thesis contributes to the current literature in several ways. First, while there is ample evidence in the literature suggesting that the markets would not react to what is already expected but will react to the news, the current literature on the RBA's target rate effects is still limited to the investigation of the overall announcement impact on the first moment of the Australian market return only. Therefore, this thesis firstly comprehensively investigates the impacts of the unexpected components of the RBA's target rate announcements (or news) on the first two moments of various segments of the Australian financial markets including interest rate changes, the Australian dollar and stock market returns. In so doing, this thesis contributes to the current literature on the impacts of domestic target interest rate news. Second, while the established literature seems to be missing a thorough investigation of the spillover effects of the Fed's and the ECB's news on the Asia Pacific markets, this thesis provides comprehensive evidence on the spillover effects of the Fed's and the ECB's target rate news on both the mean and volatility of the Asia Pacific's stock and currency returns. Furthermore, we not only document the presence of the news spillover effects but also highlight the incremental explanatory power of the target interest rate news in the presence of the indirect effects from the US's and euro area's markets to the Asia-Pacific markets. To this end, this thesis contributes to the literature on spillover effects of foreign target interest rate news. Third, while the literature is silent on how quickly the target interest rate news is absorbed in foreign markets, this thesis takes a step forward and breaks down the daily horizon into the overnight and the intraday horizons. In so doing, the thesis examines the absorption speed of target rate news in the Asia-Pacific markets. This is an important issue because there might be potential for a diverse array of response dynamics across countries due to heterogeneous market developments, nature of monetary policy synchronization, and financial and real integration with the U.S. and the euro area. Specifically, this thesis presents three independent empirical inquiries that contribute to the literature on domestic and spillover effects of the target interest rate news. Chapter 4 provides comprehensive empirical evidence for the impacts of the RBA's target rate news on various segments of the Australian financial markets during the period from 1998 to 2006. We also investigate the spillover effects of the US Fed's news on the Australian financial markets. We show that the RBA's and the Fed's news significantly affect the Australian financial markets in line with a priori expectations. However, while the RBA's news raises volatility in the Australian financial markets, the volatility was significantly lower in all market segments following the Fed's news. The spillover effects of the US Fed's and the ECB's target interest rate news on the mean and the volatility of twelve Asia Pacific's stock markets' returns are examined in Chapter 5, and seven Asia Pacific exchange rates against the US dollar and the euro over the period 1999-2006 are carried out in Chapter 6. The spillover effects on the conditional mean are generally consistent with the literature where a majority of Asia Pacific stock markets shows significant negative returns and a majority of currencies depreciates against the US dollar and the euro in response to the Fed's and the ECB's unexpected rate rises. Furthermore, in response to the two target rate news, the conditional volatility of the Asia Pacific stock markets was higher while the market calming effects have been observed for the currency markets and both the Fed and the ECB news elicit persisting volatility responses. We conjecture that as the ECB's news tends to confirm the Fed's earlier decision, this relationship might help reduce uncertainties in the Asia Pacific currency markets upon the future path of target interest rates from both the Central Banks, which ultimately results in into a lower volatility level. These findings are important not only to the Asia Pacific’s policy makers to help them improve the conduct of monetary policy but also to market participants in designing trading mechanisms as well as risk management strategies in response to both domestic and external interest rate shocks. Furthermore, these findings also shed light on the lead-lag relationship between the Fed and the ECB in making policy decisions. The notion that the ECB follows the Fed in setting its policy is so strong amongst market participants that empirical evidence seems to be crucial. Despite the fact that the ECB's news arrives after the Fed's news, this study provides evidence that the ECB's news has its own merits in the Asia Pacific markets and helps resolve differences in beliefs among market participants.

The primary aim of this thesis is to examine whether the policy recommendations made by the European Central Bank in response to the financial crisis of 2008 were biased towards fiscal consolidation. It posits that such policies, commonly known as austerity, were underpinned by estimates of the fiscal multiplier that were lower than those of international and independent researchers. To analyse this, it provides a systematic overview of the ECB's fiscal multiplier estimates by performing a meta-regression analysis on all ECB working papers making multiplier estimates published between 1992 and 2012, and comparing the results against those of a larger dataset containing multiplier estimates made. It finds that the multiplier estimates of the ECB are significantly lower than the norm, which is potentially suggestive of bias. This thesis contributes to the literature on ideational bias in economic policy-making by providing a systematic literature review that helps inform the discussion on austerity in the EU. It also servers as a replication and expansion of previous meta-regression studies on the fiscal multiplier, by being the first study that specifically examines the estimates of a specific institution.

This thesis deals with the impact of quantitative easing on public sector bond yields of selected countries in the world. It mentions channels of standard monetary policy tools and channels of quantitative easing, which can be included among unconventional monetary policy tools. This thesis analyses the impacts of quantitative easing, which was done by the Federal Reserve System, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank. Firstly, all these institutions fought against the financial crisis with standard monetary policy tools. However, those tools were not very effective, therefore the institutions moved to non-standard tools. After the analysis based on event-study method was carried out, it was found out that mainly the first announcements about the policy of quantitative easing were always the most effective in decreasing government bond yield. The subsequent expansion of the policy of quantitative easing did not have such impact. The main benefit of this thesis is in the examination of the impact of later statements regarding quantitative easing on government bond yield, which were not effective in decreasing government bond yield.

First, this paper presents basic definitions of the consumption function and gives a summary of main theoretical concepts of consumption as well as an overview and discussion of important papers on consumption. Above all, papers examining the influence of the interest rate upon consumption are accented. Furthermore it contains a brief context summary of current and potential eurozone members, work of the ECB and execution of common monetary policy. Subsequently we discuss the hypothesis of a possibly asymmetric impact of the interest rate upon consumption in individual countries, expand and justify the hypothesis based on indebtedness, wealth, etc. Empirically, hypotheses are tested on historical data of individual countries: transmission between interest rates of central banks (later the ECB) and market interest rates, correlation analysis of consumption changes and central interest rates in individual countries, correlations with year-on-year changes. Also, consumption functions are estimated using time series models while testing alternative variables in the regression equations. We discuss analysis results and methods used; the influence of the interest rate upon consumption seems to be small and the relationship type is not much different across the eurozone countries. Eventually, we outline possible implications of our results with respect to the future of the eurozone and related activity of the ECB.

stract Abstract The aim of this thesis is to compare the responses of the two largest economies in the world - the U.S. and the EU -- to economic, debt and financial crisis that began in 2007 on U.S. mortgage markets, respectively, confirm or disprove the hypothesis that the United States deal with the crisis better. For this purpose the thesis describes the causes and consequences of the crisis on which was applied measures at EU level and at the level of the USA. The list of these measures is also presented in the thesis. To decide whether the hypothesis is correct or not is at the thesis analyzed the impact of the measures implemented to both economics. This analysis is based on monitoring the development of statistical indicators of major macroeconomic aggregates - especially the GDP, unemployment and public debt, and quantification of bailouts for the financial sector. Based on the above analysis, the present work confirmed the hypothesis.