We study the impact of liquidity shocks in Italy in the 1991–1992 period, when the lira belonged to the narrow ERM band with no exchange controls. We conduct our analysis by constructing (not simply assuming) predetermined measures of liquidity supply shocks, taking into account the...

High-debt countries may face the risk of self-fulfilling debt crises. If the public expects that in the future the government will be unable to roll over the maturing debt, they may refuse to buy debt today and choose to hold foreign assets. This lack of confidence may then be self-fulfilling....

This paper studies the optimal debt repayment policy of a government facing a credibility problem: the public is uncertain about whether the outstanding public debt will be repaid in full or in part and requires a risk premium to roll it over. The model determines when it is optimal for the...

We study the interbank markets for overnight loans of the major industrial countries, linking the behaviour of short-term interest rates to the operating procedures of these countries’ central banks. We find that many of the key behavioural features of US federal funds rates, on which previous...

We construct a set of indicators to measure the policy-making role of the European Union (European Council, Parliament, Commission, Court of Justice, etc.), in a selected number of policy domains. Our goal is to examine the division of prerogatives between European institutions and national...

We model an international union as a group of countries deciding together the provision of certain public goods and policies because of spillovers. The countries are heterogeneous either in preferences and/or in economic fundamentals. The trade-off between the benefits of coordination and the...

We model an international union as a group of countries deciding together on the provision of public goods or policies that generate spillovers across members. The trade-off between benefits of coordination and loss of independent policy-making endogenously determines size, composition and scope...

Are structural reforms growth enhancing? Is the effectiveness of reforms constrained by a country's distance from the technology frontier or by its institutional environment? This paper takes a new and comprehensive look at these questions by employing a novel data set that includes several...