Unit labour cost developments in the EU a structural analysis (by Michael Landesmann and Doris Hanzl-Weiss; pp. 1-9) Keywords unit labour costs rebalancing, competitiveness Countries covered European Union Topics International Trade, Competitiveness and FDI The various ‘faces’ of the EU...

This paper (i) estimates the local effects of government stimulus spending on labor market outcomes and (ii) shows how these effects can be obtained from a firm's optimal policy in the presence of costs to hiring workers. We analyze the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery...

A model is constructed in which consumers and banks have incentives to fake the quality of collateral. Conventional monetary easing can exacerbate these problems, in that the mispresentation of collateral becomes more profitable, thus increasing haircuts and interest rate differentials. Central...

In this paper, we study the effects of interregional spillovers from the government spending component of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the Recovery Act). Using cross-county Census Journey to Work commuting data, we cluster U.S. counties into local labor markets, each of...

Interim Romanian government sworn in any room for manoeuvring? (by Gábor Hunya; pp. 1-4) Keywords Elections, Fiscal policy Countries covered Romania Topics Macroeconomic Analysis and Policy Croatia's EU membership lessons from earlier accessions (by Hermine Vidovic; pp. 5 7) Keywords Integration,...

Financial balances of the private, foreign and public sectors long-term tendencies for the European Union (by Roman Römisch; pp. 1-6) Keywords fiscal policy, budget deficits, investments and savings, public-private balances Countries covered European Union Topics Macroeconomic Analysis and...

Slovakia after the elections (by Doris Hanzl-Weiss; pp. 1-3) Keywords Elections, Fiscal policy Countries covered Slovakia Topics Macroeconomic Analysis and Policy Labour market issues in Europe’s Eastern and Western Balkan neighbours (by Hermine Vidovic; pp. 4-9) Keywords Labour market,...

The paper analyses some policy issues under a currency board arrangement (CBA), focusing on the conduct of fiscal policy which is the only policy instrument at the disposal of the authorities as the CBA precludes an independent monetary policy. It is argued that the loss in degrees of freedom...

Within the EU, taxation and the EU's eastern enlargement are currently seen as one of the most important problems to be solved and projects to be realized. Each of these two topics covers a vast set of issues which have to be dealt with. At the same time only few attempts have been made to...

"Death of a Theory," presented in St. Louis. January 13, 2012.