In this Working Paper, I examine to what extent labor shortage leads to higher wages. If the shortage of the occupations demanded by a firm increases, wages will increase, too. The wages increases are, however, relatively modest.

The report presents the conclusions of Danmarks Nationalbank’s oversight of the Danish payments infrastructure in 2021. The core payment and settlement systems and the key payment solutions extensively comply with international standards for safety and efficiency. Work is being done across the sector to strengthen cyber resilience. Changes in the risk outlook, including new derived risks, mean that this resilience must be continuously developed.

Before the pandemic, wage and price inflation remained low in Denmark and other advanced economies, despite falling unemployment rates. We attribute the subdued inflation to low competition among firms to hire employed workers. This same force may continue to constrain inflation once the current rise in energy and commodity prices has been passed through to consumer prices.

This memo analyzes the evolution of firm ownership concentration in the private Danish rental market and its link to rental prices. We show that the overall increase in rental market concentration between 2010 and 2020 is mainly driven by the rental market in the Capital Region. Further, we document a positive empirical link between market concentration and rental prices.

The price of natural gas has risen significantly since the summer of 2021. Higher heating costs may put downward pressure on homes heated with gas. Seen in isolation, the average price drop will be DKK 73,000 for a house with gas, if the gas price develops in line with the expectations of financial markets. (Memo available in Danish only).

Banks and insurance and pension companies are increasingly developing systems that use artificial intelligence. This news outlines five suggestions from Danmarks Nationalbank’s data experts, which financial companies should have increased focus on in order to live up to both ethics and legislation when entering this area.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can improve the resiliency of both individual financial institutions and the financial sector as a whole. Yet, its users must balance benefits and risks of these technologies. This paper illustrates five focus points which financial institutions should consider when moving from traditional models to complex AI systems.

War in Ukraine has in short time become a new and destabilising factor in Danish and global economy. It dampens growth and increase inflation at a time, when inflation and capacity utilisation is already high. Danish economy is in general robust and able to handle new challenges, and is expected to enter a pause in growth. However, there are risks of a fall in activity.

Rising inflation and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have led to increased volatility in the financial markets over the past six months. Both short-term and long-term mortgage rates have increased significantly, and equity prices have fallen, leading to tighter financial conditions. (Released in Danish March, 16)

Danmarks Nationalbank posted a profit of kr. 194 million in 2021 against a profit of kr. 1,616 million in 2020. Gold stock and equity exposure contributed significantly to the profit for the year.

The Danish labour market has tightened substantially during the recovery of the Danish economy. Pandemic-related labour demand can account for some of the employment growth. The majority of the movements on the labour market have occurred among marginal jobs, and cross-sectoral movements have been slightly higher than usual.

Danmarks Nationalbank has conducted a survey of the use of cash in Denmark. Danes are relying less and less on cash when paying for goods and services in stores, but cash is still used as a store of value and for person-to-person payments. For instance, more than one in three Danes hold cash savings.

Danmarks Nationalbank has conducted a survey of the payment behaviour of Danish households. In Denmark, most payments in physical trade and person to person are digital. Digital behaviour is broadly anchored in the population, and the digital behaviour of senior citizens is a key element in making Denmark one of the most digitalised countries when it comes to payments.

A government budget surplus led to a decrease in central government debt by approximately kr. 100 billion to kr. 438 billion at the end of 2021, equal to just under 18 per cent of GDP. Central government debt, as a share of GDP, has thus fallen to its lowest level since 2009. Again in 2021, borrowing flexibility was crucial to the central government. The flexibility made it possible gradually to reduce issuances by the central government, in line with improvements in government finances.

This memo explores the impact of digitalisation on Danish workers and companies. For this, we first build two complementary measures of digitalisation that leverage Danish administrative data. We then document a positive association between the level of digitalisation and sales of large companies. In the final part, we study the workers in the IT sector – the producers of the digital tools. We find that the workforce in the IT sector is more specialised than the rest of the Danish workforce, and that this specialisation has increased during the past decade.

This analysis examines whether investors are willing to pay a higher price for a company with low CO2e emissions relative to a corresponding company with higher emissions. The analysis finds, other things being equal, that companies with lower emissions have a higher equity price. The reason for the higher price is found to be that their future earnings are connected with lower risks than comparable companies with higher emissions e.g. due to the prospect of a future carbon tax.

This paper examines the labor market effects of the Danish wage compensation scheme for employees during the covid-19 pandemic. The scheme prevented job losses, especially for low-tenured workers, but led to a decline in furloughed workers’ labor income. Labor market mobility was basically unaffected.

In the 2nd half of 2022, the Danish central government opens a new inflation-linked bond maturing in 2034. Inflation-linked bonds issued by the Danish central government enable investors to invest in a safe asset whose return tracks Danish consumer price inflation. The main reason why the central government continues to issue inflation-linked bonds is to ensure a broad and stable investor base.

The target for sales of domestic government bonds and short-term loan programmes in 2022 is kr. 65 billion and kr. 35 billion, respectively. On 19 January, a green 10-year bond with maturity in 2031 will be opened. A new inflation-linked bond with maturity in 2034 will also be opened in the 2nd half of the year. Issuance will be focused in the 2-year and 10-year maturity segments.

We study the implications of a coordinated fiscal and monetary strategy aiming at creating a controlled rise of inflation to wear away a targeted fraction of debt. Under this strategy, the fiscal authority introduces an emergency budget with no provisions on how it will be balanced, while the monetary authority tolerates a temporary increase in inflation to accommodate the emergency budget.

In the recent years Danish companies have increasingly acquired foreign companies and vice versa. The size of some company acquisitions surpasses the daily turnover in the foreign exchange market for kroner. A case study in this Economic Memo shows that large company acquisitions have not exacerbated krone exchange rate movements over and above the normal daily variation. (Memo available in Danish only).

Danmarks Nationalbank has assessed Kronos2 against international principles for safe and efficient payment systems. Kronos2 is used for settlement of payments between banks etc. and is a central payment system in the Danish payments infrastructure. The main conclusion of the assessment is that Kronos2 to a large extent complies with the principles. A few areas with potential for improvement have been identified.

This Memo investigates the bond portfolio reaction of key Danish institutional investors to duration jumps in callable mortgage bonds. It shows that the investors remain net buyers of Danish mortgage bonds during periods of jumps. In particular, they buy more than they do on average, supporting the Danish mortgage bond market, limiting a potential self-reinforcing mechanism of duration jumps.

In this memo we find empirical evidence consistent with the hypothesis that banks act strategically to finance themselves through similar levels of excess capital to their competitors. We find that this channel is a significant driver of banks’ choice of excess capital but not the most important one.

We report new regional evidence indicating that U.S. house prices increase after positive shocks to fiscal spending. In sharp contrast to this, house prices fall in conventional DSGE models. We construct a model featuring endogenous firm entry and taste for variety, which can generate a positive response of house prices to fiscal spending.

Credit institutions are granting more housing loans to highly indebted homeowners. High loan-to-value ratios may cause vulnerabilities to a sub-sequent fall in house prices. A general requirement for higher down payments and instalments on loans to homeowners with a high loan-to-value ratio may contribute to a more resilient housing market.

The stress test shows that the banks have sufficient capital to withstand a severe recession scenario, but a few of the systemic banks are close to their buffer requirements. However, the situation would be different for several of the systemic banks if their capital was on a par with their capital target on commencement of the stress test. In this case, several banks would experience significant breaches of the buffer requirements under stress.

This paper studies Danish firms' debt financing decisions during covid-19 with a focus on the impact of government support measures. Credit growth has been modest during the pandemic. Public liquidity measures such as deferred tax and VAT payments served as a substitute for more traditional debt funding sources.

We analyse the role of nonbank lenders in corporate and consumer credit markets in Denmark and show that they affect the transmission of monetary policy to financial and real outcomes. Nonbanks increase their share of credit supply after an interest rate hike in both the consumer and corporate credit markets.

The Faroe Islands are experiencing widespread labour shortages, due to very low unemployment and an already high labour market participation rate. At the same time, the continued boom is supported by improved export prospects. Long-term fiscal planning will improve the resilience of the Faroese economy. Capital should be set aside in good times to draw upon in bad. With the ageing of the Faroese population, balance between expenditure and revenue is also important.

Greenland has fared better than most countries in weathering the covid-19 pandemic. Labour shortages are severe, and the risk of overheating of the economy has increased. Nuuk is experiencing the strongest labour market pressures, while South and East Greenland are experiencing the lowest. Large-scale infrastructure investments will cause debts of the government of Greenland, local government and government-owned companies to grow considerably over the coming years.

The interest-rate sensitivity of Danish homeowners has decreased in the period from 2009 to 2019. These are among the conclusions of a new Working Paper in which Stine Ludvig Bech, Simon Juul Hviid og Jakob Guldbæk Mikkelsen from Danmarks Nationalbank have analysed, how homeowners will be affected by an interest-rate increase.

We evaluate homeowners’ interest-rate sensitivity on cash flows and balance sheets of a 1 percentage point increase in interest rates. Overall, the interest-rate sensitivity is limited. However, for a subgroup of homeowners, an increase in interest rates will have a substantial effect on their cash flows and balance sheets.

I analyze to which extent corporate cash holdings protect firms from the adverse consequences of shocks to their borrowing costs. Despite firms self-insuring against spikes in their borrowing costs by holding cash, an aggregate shock to borrowing conditions similar to that seen during the Global Financial Crisis can significantly contract aggregate investment, especially for firms with low cash holdings.

We investigate the effects of the risk of flooding on the prices of single-family homes in Denmark. Houses that are exposed to flood risk today, as well as houses that will be exposed to flood risk in the future due to rising sea levels, are priced at a discount.

There is still public interest in Danmarks Nationalbank's gold stock, although it has been many years since gold played an important role in the cash system and more generally in monetary and foreign exchange policies. The analysis provides an overview of the historical background of the gold stock based on source material from Danmarks Nationalbank's archives at the Danish National Archives.

Danmarks Nationalbank has around 66.5 tonnes of gold. A new analysis provides a general overview of the historical background for Danmarks Nationalbank's gold stock based on source material from Danmarks Nationalbank's archive at the Danish National Archives.

Rapid recovery after the lockdowns has resulted in recruitment difficulties for companies. Economic growth is expected to continue, with the economy moving into a moderate boom. Bottlenecks are not expected to develop into an actual overheating of the economy, but several prerequisites are present for a scenario with significantly stronger growth. The Government should therefore be prepared to tighten its economic policy more than planned.

The recovery of the western economies has contributed to higher corporate earnings in Denmark and higher equity prices. Danish long-term bond yields have edged up slightly since March, but remain low. Overall, financial conditions are accommodative for the growth in GDP.

The pension sectors alternative investments of kr. 500 billion have provided diversification and stable returns. Most companies have room to invest even more in alternatives if deemed appropriate in terms of risk and return. An increased share of alternatives can impact both solvency and liquidity, where especially liquidity can become tight if e.g. interest rates increase. Strong management of short- and long-term risks is thus important.

In this Working Paper, I study the effects of local government spending on local retail prices using retail scanner data from the United States. Estimates show that retail prices increase following an increase in government spending. I provide evidence which indicates that this cannot be accounted for by changes in marginal costs.

The ECB's new monetary policy strategy was published on 8 July 2021. The analysis presents the changes and their potential impacts on the Danish economy. ECB's new monetary policy strategy does not influence the way in which Danmarks Nationalbank conducts monetary policy. Overall, the changes are assessed to have small potential positive impacts on the Danish economy.

Key financial sector participants have strong external defences and have improved their capability to detect and respond to cyber attacks. Increased focus is required on the protection of critical data and the capability for safe and effective recovery of core systems. This is demonstrated by Danmarks Nationalbank's cyber resilience surveys.

The pandemic has accelerated the digital transition in many countries. This Economic Memo finds that the degree of digitalisation has had an impact on the magnitude of economic losses during the pandemic. Differences in the EU countries' objectives for digital transition can imply greater digital inequality in the future and a deeper economic gap between the countries. (Memo available in Danish only).

This memo aims to take the first steps in analysing the use of the wage compensation scheme in Denmark and its effectiveness to preserve job matches. We find that firms used the furlough programme extensively to save at-risk workers. This focus has been particularly on saving full-time workers and workers with higher tenure.

Danmarks Nationalbank owns and operates the only system for real-time settlement of large, time-critical payments in Danish kroner. The central position of Kronos in the financial infrastructure entails high safety and efficiency requirements. This report provides a detailed description of Kronos' observance of the international principles for financial market infrastructures.

The pandemic has led to high trading activity and house price increases. This creates extraordinary uncertainty about future house prices. By the end of 2023, house prices are expected to have risen significantly. Measures are needed now, such as increased amortisation requirements and lower interest deductions that can strengthen the robustness of the Danish economy – both now and in the future.

For the first time, Danmarks Nationalbank takes an overall stand on its role in relation to climate change and the transition to a green economy. Climate change and the transition may pose challenges to the objectives of price and financial stability. Central banks have a task in adapting to the new challenges.

In 2014, the EU adopted a new framework for recovery and resolution in order to sever the tie between banks and government, so that the taxpayers no longer had to pick up the tab for failing banks. In Denmark, the framework for recovery and resolution constituted a minor innovation because Denmark already had a framework ensuring that the creditors of failing banks absorbed losses. The European framework is still evolving. The Danish experiences are useful in a European context.

From 2000-2006 US house prices and mortgage credit grew while the relative cost of mortgage credit fell particularly for privately securitized mortgages suggesting a credit supply expansion. This paper explores two (credit supply) shocks: an increased inflow of global savings into the US, and innovations in the securitization of mortgage credit. Only innovation in securitization matches mortgage market dynamics.

Investors who arbitrage between long term government debt and corporate debt expand the Portfolio Balance Channel in that the effects of Quantitative Easing (QE) spill over to the overall cost of corporate borrowing. I find that overall the Federal Reserve’s second round of QE boosts output between 0.5 - 1.7%.

Using microdata, the analysis demonstrates that female company owners pay higher interest rates on corporate loans than their male counterparts. The interest rate differential is both economically and statistically significant, and does not disappear when adjusting for relevant company and loan characteristics using sophisticated statistical methods.

Female owners of small and medium-sized enterprises, on average, pay almost 1 percent higher interest rates than male owners. Firm and loan characteristics explain most of this difference. Nonetheless, a 26 basis point gap cannot be explained, suggesting that female business owners tend to leave a disproportionate share of money on the table during negotiations with credit institutions.

The reopening of the Danish society is in full swing characterised by high private demand. Growth is expected to continue, and there are already large price increases in the housing market as well as signs of bottlenecks building up. The Government should prepare tightening fiscal policy more than planned, and there is a need for measures to strengthen robustness in the housing market.

The target for sales of domestic government bonds in 2021 is lowered to kr. 110 billion from kr. 125 billion. The on-the-run issues remain unchanged and focus will continue to be on issuance in the 2-year and 10-year nominal bonds. Issuance of short-term papers is increased and the total outstanding amount of T-bills and commercial papers is expected to be kr. 95 billion by the end of 2021, of which up to kr. 60 billion in T-bills.

Danish credit institutions have substantial exposures collateralised by real estate at risk of flooding in future climate scenarios. These exposures could amount to kr. 200 billion by the end of this century. Some credit institutions have a large share of the exposures at risk concentrated in the same geographical area.

The banks are ready for the ongoing economic recovery: Their lending to hard-hit corporations is limited, and provisions have been made to handle losses. But the booming housing market gives cause for concern. Higher down payment requirement and amortisation requirement for highly indebted homeowners are among the measures that should be considered in order to limit vulnerability in connection with a subsequent drop in house prices.

A stress test of the banking sector shows that a few systemic banks fall short of their risk-based capital requirements in a severe recession scenario. Most banks are generally better capitalised than previously, but they are challenged in the stress test by weaker earnings, which means they are less resilient under stress. The stress test also shows that the banks must continuously ensure sufficient surplus relative to the MREL.