Between 2008 and 2020 it has been a common practice among main central banks to keep the policy rate at or around zero. Apart from the expected macroeconomic consequences described partly by liquidity trap theories and structural macroeconomic models discussing the effectiveness of economic policy at the zero lower bound (ZLB), moderate interest rates have a notable influence on the portfolio optimising decisions of economic actors as well. The paper thus endeavours to reveal the wealth effect at the ZLB. Firstly, it compares how the various monetary aggregates and sectoral portfolios changed in the USA and in the eurozone between 2000 and 2020 contrasting the empirical facts with the theoretical assumptions and the experience of the Japan’s lost decade. Secondly, it examines the impact of the common monetary policy at the ZLB on the portfolio structure of individual countries of the eurozone. Hierarchical cluster analysis is applied using Eurostat sectoral financial asset statistics for selected years between 2005 and 2019. After choosing the best asset-to-GDP variables of sectoral financial asset holdings, countries are separated in different clusters based on Squared Euclidean distance and variables are standardised to z-scores. The analysis revealed that low interest rates cause significant portfolio rearrangements in the eurozone as a whole. Moreover, there is much greater diversity between individual member states originally than the way monetary policy influenced differences in the portfolio composition of economic sectors, even some convergence between core and periphery countries is observable.

Nowadays' changing weather conditions and the resulting increasing flood levels make flood protection improvement essential. In Hungary, in the Szigetköz floodplain area, a complex water resources management unit of the Upper part of the Danube River, the rehabilitation of the water levels, and the setting back of the settled low and middle water levels had become necessary. It has been achieved by relocating the estuary of the Mosoni-Danube River and constructing a complex water control structure. A new ~1.5 km long levee connects to the structure. Due to a large volume of fine-grained blanket material on the site, the possibility arose to build a section of the levee using the blanket material without applying a cut-off wall to prevent water flow through the levee. The geotechnical parameters of the available local material were based on a complex site investigation program. According to the results of the field and laboratory tests, the blanket layer was suitable as fill material and could be compacted to the required 90% degree of compaction using standard machinery and procedures. Plaxis 2D software using fully coupled flow-deformation analysis, imitating the previously registered flood waves, modeled seepage and stability behaviour to evaluate the ultimate limit states of the levee constructed from the blanket material. The analysis proved the adequacy of the blanket material, avoiding the necessity for a barrier within the embankment. The use of local blanket material as fill eliminated the need to excavate and transport additional material, reducing environmental impact, shortening construction time, and saving costs on the project.