Search

This paper analyses the economic confidence indicators' reaction to the environment surrounding the COVID‐19 pandemic. Using Eurostat's monthly data for the economic sentiment in European Union countries, we found that, in the COVID‐19 era, confidence and perceptions about the economy are strongly dominated by factors related to the pandemic, more so by policy measures and the vaccination process than by the direct health impact of the coronavirus. This is found to be prevalent across the multiple dimensions of economic sentiment. Moreover, standard macroeconomic variables seem to play a smaller and more marginal role during this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the role of the political environment in the timing of financial crises over a sample of 85 countries during the period 1975–2017. We consider systemic banking, currency and sovereign debt crises in addition to twin and triple crises. Using a fixed‐effects logit model, this study shows that banking and currency crises are more likely to occur within 1 year after elections. There is also evidence that the probability of currency crises increases when right‐wing parties are in office. Moreover, time in office of incumbent chief executives reduces the likelihood of any type of financial crises. The incidence of twin and triple crises is lower when majority governments are in office. This study contributes to the literature by calling attention to the importance of some political factors for different types of financial crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]