Euro Area Inflation and a New Measure of Core Inflation

70 Pages Posted: 5 Dec 2022 Last revised: 21 Feb 2023

See all articles by Claudio Morana

Claudio Morana

Università di Milano Bicocca; Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca - Department of Economics, Management and Statistics (DEMS); Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca - Center for European Studies (CefES); Center for Economic Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies (CeRP); Rimini Center for Economic Analysis - Europe ETS; Rimini Center for Economic Analysis - HQ

Date Written: December 4, 2022

Abstract

This paper introduces a new decomposition of euro area headline inflation into core, cyclical and residual components. Our new core inflation measure, the structural core inflation rate, bears the interpretation of expected headline inflation, conditional to medium to long-term demand and supply-side developments. It shows smoothness and trending properties, economic content, and forecasting ability for headline inflation and other available core inflation measures routinely used at the ECB for internal or external communication. Hence, it carries additional helpful information for policy-making decisions. Concerning recent developments, all the inflation components contributed to its post-pandemic upsurge. Since mid-2021, core inflation has been on a downward trend, landing at about 3% in 2022. Cyclical and residual inflation -associated with idiosyncratic supply chains, energy markets, and geopolitical tensions- are currently the major threats to price stability. While some cyclical stabilization is ongoing, a stagflation scenario cum weakening overall financial conditions might be lurking ahead. A pressing issue for ECB monetary policy will be to face -mostly supply-side- inflationary pressure without triggering a financial crisis.

Keywords: headline inflation, core inflation, Russia's war in Ukraine, COVID-19 pandemic, sovereign debt crisis, subprime financial crisis, dot-com bubble, euro area, ECB monetary policy, trend-cycle decomposition

JEL Classification: C22, C38, E32, F44, G01

Suggested Citation

Morana, Claudio, Euro Area Inflation and a New Measure of Core Inflation (December 4, 2022). University of Milan Bicocca Department of Economics, Management and Statistics Working Paper No. 505, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4293197

Claudio Morana (Contact Author)

Università di Milano Bicocca ( email )

Dip Economia Metodi Quantitativi Strategie Impresa
Piazza dell'Ateneno Nuovo 1
Milano, 20126
Italy
+39 0264483091 (Phone)

Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca - Department of Economics, Management and Statistics (DEMS) ( email )

Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1
Milan, 20126
Italy

Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca - Center for European Studies (CefES) ( email )

U6 Building
Viale Piero e Alberto Pirelli, 22
Milano, 20126
Italy

Center for Economic Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies (CeRP) ( email )

Moncalieri, Turin
Italy

Rimini Center for Economic Analysis - Europe ETS ( email )

Piazza Ateneo Nuovo 1
Milan, 20126
Italy

Rimini Center for Economic Analysis - HQ ( email )

900 University Avenue
Riverside, CA 92521
United States

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
104
Abstract Views
410
Rank
391,222
PlumX Metrics