In this paper we study the issue of economic integration in Poland between 1924 and 1937 by means of a threshold cointegration analysis of the law of one price. We find that the interwar economy can be regarded as integrated but with obvious restrictions which refer to the existence of relevant...

A fresh interpretaion is provided of the influential finding that the markup of prices over marginal costs is counter-cyclical. Using Rotemberg and Woodford's data set we argue that the markup is best modelled as a variable that is integrated of order one. A consequence of this finding is that...

Modern theories of inflation incorporate a vertical long-run Phillips curve and are usually estimated using techniques that ignore the non-stationary behaviour of inflation. Consequently, the estimates obtained are imprecise and are unable to distinguish between competing models of inflation and...

An I(2) analysis of inflation and the markup is undertaken for the G7 economies and Australia. We find that the levels of prices and costs are best described as I(2) processes and that except for Japan a linear combination of the log levels or prices and costs cointegrate to the markup that is...

This paper considers whether the Euro-area economies have become more competitive since the introduction of the Euro and the implementation of the Lisbon strategy. Using a measure of the markup as a proxy for competition we show that while the markup has varied considerably over the past 25...

Models of stabilization in open economy traditionally emphasize the role of exchange rates as a substitute for nominal price flexibility in fostering relative price adjustment. This view has been recently criticized on the ground that, to the extent that prices are sticky in local currency, the...

What can be learnt from revisiting the Optimal Currency Areas (OCA) theory 50 years from its birth, in light of recent advances in open economy macro and monetary theory? This paper presents a stylized micro-founded model of the costs of adopting a common currency, relative to an ideal benchmark...

Recent literature reaches contrasting conclusions on the ability of price/wage staggering models to generate output persistence. The authors derive fairly general results from a stylised log-linear model which encompasses most of the microfound model of price/wage staggering.

This paper considers a sticky price model with a cash-in-advance constraint where agents forecast inflation rates by fitting econometric models to data. Agents are uncertain about which model to fit and can choose from a class of models. Only some of the models in this class are consistent with...

The aim of this paper is to study whether price level or inflation targeting would be appropriate monetary policy regimes for Japan. A necessary condition for such regimes is that the rate of interest remain a positive tool of monetary policy. Using VAR and SVAR approaches, we investigate...