The September performance of the DAX (German stock market index) was found to be below average in the period from 1959-1999. This finding is shown to be robust to several changes in the empirical specification. None of the variables under consideration - elections, risk premia and German...

The book offers an explanation of unemployment based on a model of wage bargaining between a trade union and an employers' association. The theoretical model emphasizes the importance of distributional fairness in wage negotiations, especially with regard to factor taxation. This is achieved by...

As a result of the Balassa effect relative prices change rapidly between and within the euro countries. Thus it is impossible to find a common monetary policy that will result in price stability in all countries. Based on empirical estimates of the Balassa model, the paper calculates a minimum...