The lack of euro area labour market flexibility is a commonly mentioned issue. In particular, the relatively weak response of wages to high unemployment can pose adjustment problems. We address the issue using extensive simulations of an estimated macro-econometric model for the euro area (the...

This paper sets out first, to quantify the stabilization gains from commitment in terms of household welfare and second, to examine how commitment to an optimal or approximately optimal rule can be sustained as an equilibrium in which reneging hardly ever occurs. We utilize an influential...