In this study it is attempted to estimate the amount of speculation in foreign exchange market.

This paper investigates the empirical determinants of corporate cash holdings in the euro area as a function of firm size. The results show that there are significant differences in investment in liquid assets for firms of different size. More specifically, liquid assets for smaller firms in the...

This paper shows that liquidity constraints restrict job creation even when labor markets are flexible. In a dynamic model of labor demand, I show that in an environment of imperfect capital and imperfect labor markets, firms use temporary contracts to relax financial constraints. Evidence for...

This paper contains estimates of physical and intangible (information technology, advertising and training) capital stock, together with capital, labor and externally provided input services, of Spanish commercial and saving banks in the period 1983 to 2003. Capital stocks are valued at...

A simple method to estimate multilateral equilibrium real exchange rates in a cointegration framework is used to compute the equilibrium real exchange rate for the peseta. The stock of foreign assets and the evolution of sectoral prices have been considered to be the fundamentals for the real...

This paper provides empirical evidence on the effectiveness of movements in nominal exchange rates in smooting cyclical imbalances between countries, as explained by the literature on optimal currency areas.

As the Spanish economy gets more integrated in international markets, competitiveness becomes a key determinant of the monetary transmission. In this paper we trace out the dynamic response of prices, output and the exchange rate following a monetary policy shock. We estimate a structural VAR...

Inflation has fallen dramatically in countries like Spain and Italy over the last decade, but the rate of increase in "home good" prices remains stubbornly higher than the rate of increase in "traded good" prices. The paper begins by showing that this discrepancy can be explained (at least in...

Monetary union in Europe raises the problem of converting into euros nominal historical series calculated in the respective national currencies. The aim of this paper is to evaluate alternative conversion procedures, including use of the rates fixed at the start of Stage Three between the...