Understanding Differences in European Household Finances

The financial and economic crisis in the US and Europe has demonstrated that a better understanding of household finances and real estate markets is crucial for the design of policies aimed at improving macroeconomic and financial stability. The boom and bust in housing finances and residential house prices in several countries during the first decade of this century have been associated with large swings in household consumption, contributing to a substantial upswing and subsequent downswing in macroeconomic performance.

The financial circumstances of households differ widely across European countries. The reason for these inequalities in household finances has not been fully understood. While at CES, Winfried Koeniger will work on a project that (i) searches for possible economic explanations for the observed inequalities and (ii) investigates their importance for the effectiveness of monetary and fiscal policy. The project is joint research with Thomas Hintermaier (University of Bonn).

Winfried Koeniger's research interests include macroeconomics, financial economics and labor markets. His recent research has been published in the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Journal of Economic Dynamics & Control, Rand Journal of Economics and Review of Economic Dynamics. Mr Koeniger is Professor of Economics at the University of St Gallen. He is CEPR research affiliate and research fellow at the Center for Financial Studies and at IZA.