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The new CaixaBank Research Dossier, dedicated to «An analysis of European productivity», aims to explore the recent dynamics in the EU’s productivity, focusing on its territorial dispersion and the differentiating factors between the best and worst performing regions. In this first article, we provide some context by outlining the main trends.

There is increasing pressure on the ECB to start raising interest rates, something that has not happened since 2011. However, in the current context of an economic slowdown with a multitude of downside risks, is it desirable for the ECB to begin to normalise its monetary policy in the coming months? Would it be better to wait for economic growth to recover?

Analysing European consumers’ saving patterns at this time is key, since a revival of consumption will serve as one of the pillars that will support the economic recovery after the coronavirus.

This analysis examines the recent evolution of the European residential market and explores differences between countries in a context where housing has become the main concern among Europeans. What we see is a cycle marked by successive shocks and an insufficient supply, which is now emerging as the main source of tension.

One of the most highly debated issues around a partial or total peace agreement and the process of Ukraine’s reconstruction is what will happen to the European energy scenario. Will Europe once again be a major customer of Russian energy?

Between 2013 and 2019, the recovery that followed the financial and sovereign debt crises enabled gradual but sustained improvements in household purchasing power, supported by an improvement in employment and a contained inflation environment. The pandemic disrupted this dynamic, and while nominal income and the labour market showed resilience, the inflation shock exacerbated by the invasion of Ukraine eroded purchasing power and strained households’ well-being, hitting low-income households particularly hard. In this context, real actual individual consumption per capita – a broad indicator of material well-being that includes both private expenditure and individual goods and services provided by the public sector – allows us to analyse how the living conditions of European households have evolved before and after the pandemic, as well as the role of public redistribution.