Empirical evidence shows that the dynamics of high frequency–based measures of volatility exhibit persistence and occasional abrupt changes in the average level. By looking at volatility measures for major indices, we notice similar patterns (including jumps at about the same time), with...

This paper examines regional inflation divergence within the European EMU aiming at characterizing the properties of inflation differentials. The empirical evidence suggests that a process of price level convergence in the EMU is well on its way.

Three industrial organization (IO) models suggested by Dornbusch (1987) are here adapted to study the labor-cost effects on relative prices of tradable goods between the regions of a monetary union. The assumption of imperfect and segmented goods and labor markets makes the analysis best suited...