Drivers of wine production in the European Union: a macroeconomic perspective

Abstract

Over the last decades, the European wine industry has been object of increased international competition, which has implications for the dynamics of wine production. This paper examines the underlying factors of wine production in the European Union (EU) from a macroeconomic perspective. We apply an expanded Cobb-Douglas production function, which includes monetary indicators. A dynamic panel data GMM approach along with pooled OLS and fixed effect model for the period from 1999-2014 are applied to estimate the model. We find a positive impact from labour, capital and wine export and a negative impact from interest rate to wine production; however, no robust and significant impact is observed from wine import as well as from inflation and exchange rates. Our results indicate that EU wine production is influenced by monetary policy, which could be a useful instrument for policy makers promoting wine production in this region.