Did quantitative easing affect interest rates outside the US? New evidence based on interest rate differentials. CEPS Working Document No. 416/January 2016

This paper explores the effects of non-standard monetary policies on international yield relationships. Based on a descriptive analysis of international long-term yields, we find evidence that long-term rates followed a global downward trend prior to as well as during the financial crisis. Comparing interest rate developments in the US and the eurozone, it is difficult to detect a distinct impact of the first round of the Fed’s quantitative easing programme (QE1) on US interest rates for which the global environment – the global downward trend in interest rates – does not account. Motivated by these findings, we analyse the impact of the Fed’s QE1 programme on the stability of the US-euro long-term interest rate relationship by using a CVAR (cointegrated vector autoregressive) model and, in particular, recursive estimation methods. Using data gathered between 2002 and 2014, we find limited evidence that QE1 caused the break-up or destabilised the transatlantic interest rate relationship. Taking global interest rate developments into account, we thus find no significant evidence that QE had any independent, distinct impact on US interest rates.

How mobile is tech talent? A case study of IT professionals based on data from LinkedIn. CEPS Special Report No. 140, July 2016

This study aims to provide independent and in-depth insights into how IT professionals move from one region to another within Europe and beyond. This study was carried out by Mikkel Barslund, Research Fellow, and Matthias Busse, Researcher in the Economic Policy research unit at CEPS. The work was commissioned by the business networking website LinkedIn, whose data analysts kindly provided the data used in this study, aggregated by region and in relative and anonymised terms. The authors are solely responsible for the findings and opinions expressed in this study. CEPS is an independent policy research institute in Brussels, whose mission is to produce sound policy research leading to constructive solutions to the challenges facing Europe today. The views expressed in this study are solely those of the authors and should not be attributed to CEPS or to any other institution with which they are associated or to the business networking website LinkedIn.