Monetary-Fiscal Nexus After the Crisis

The severe economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic required an urgent, massive and coordinated fiscal and monetary policy response. The fiscal measures will lead to substantially higher public debt-to-GDP levels across the euro area. In order to safeguard the effective transmission of monetary policy, the European Central Bank (ECB) further expanded its asset purchases, in particular of government bonds. This growing nexus between monetary and fiscal policy has raised concerns about possible future policy constraints and trade-offs. Five papers were prepared by the ECON Committee’s Monetary Expert Panel, discussing the implications of such interlinkages between monetary and fiscal policy. This publication is prepared by Policy Department A for the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), ahead of the Monetary Dialogue with ECB President Lagarde on 19 November 2020.