One of the basic principles that allow a smooth operation of the markets is the equilibrium between supply and demand. According to this principle, when demand exceeds supply, the price mechanism will try to bring the system back into equilibrium. When this thinking is applied to the housing...

This paper presents a simulation analysis of several policies, or policy proposals, for improving housing affordability for first home owner-occupiers in Australia: the First Home Owner Grant, housing equity partnerships and deposit loans. The focus is on the impact of these measures for housing...

Since the pioneering work of Tiebout (1956), economists have recognized that the quality of public services, especially schools, influence house prices. Many empirical studies have attempted to discern the extent to which the quality of public education affects house prices. Initially,...

This paper analyzes price formation and dynamics according to the industry structure. It divides manufacturing industries of Mexico into two groups: perfectly and imperfectly competitive. The results show that imperfectly competitive industries predominate. Then this classification is used to...

The paper recognizes that expectations and the process of their formation are subject to standard decision making and are determined as a part of equilibrium. Accordingly, the paper presents a basic framework in which the form of expectation formation is a choice variable. At any point in time...

This paper seeks to shed light on how manufacturing job flows and productivity in Argentina were affected during the 1990s by economic reforms in general and particularly by: a) financial shocks, b) labor reforms that change non-wage labor costs, c) trade reforms that alter tariff dispersion, d)...

We carry out a detailed analysis of quarterly frequency dynamics in major macroeconomic aggregates in twelve countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The facts we document include the variability and persistence in and the co-movement among output and other major real and nominal variables....

Extant estimates of the welfare cost of business cycles suggest that this cost is quite low and might well be minuscule. Those estimates are based on consumption data for the United States as a whole. The volatility of aggregate consumption, however, is much stronger at the state level. We argue...

In recent years, there has been much debate on whether or not countries in a region should adopt a common currency. One of the criteria for assessing the suitability of forming a currency union is whether there is a sufficient risk-sharing mechanism in operation. Although adopting a common...

The paper refers to capacity utilisation, applying a short-cut that is sometimes used in business cycle research to yearly GDP and investment data from 1960 to the present for 22 countries. The basic idea is that the empirical short-run fluctuations of the capital output ratio v are mainly due...