Traditional unobserved component models assume that the trend, cycle and seasonal components of an individual time series evolve separately over time. Although this assumption has been relaxed in recent papers that focus on trend-cycle interactions, it remains at the core of all seasonal...

We use an overlapping generations model to show that a bail-out is the optimal response to a fiscal crisis when the level of integration in a Monetary Union is high and the departure from Ricardian equivalence is significant. As it may not be optimal expost, the no bail-out rule is not credible...

Recent U.S. evidence suggests that the response of labor share to a productivity shock is characterized by countercyclicality and overshooting. These findings cannot be easily reconciled with existing business cycle models. We extend the Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides model of search in the labor...

We build a dynamic general equilibrium model with staggered wages that incorpo- rates relative wage concern on the part of workers. We then investigate the effects of money shocks on both inflation and output. In contrast to previous models of stag- gered wages/prices, both output and inflation...

We analyze the effects of a contractionary Dutch monetary policy shock that is consistent with the fixed guilder/mark exchange rate. Although monetary policy shocks are quite small, they do have plausible effects: credit, expenditures, output and prices all fall after a monetary tightening....

We study price level convergence within the US and EMU, using panel estimates of regional Phillips curves of the hybrid New-Keynesian type. The estimated half lives of deviations from trend PPP are around three years for US regions and two years for euro area countries. The start of EMU had no...

This paper examines the trade-off between exchange rate stability and monetary autonomy for a target zone. Using the guilder-mark target zone in the pre-EMU period as a case study, we empirically estimate how much policy discretion the Dutch central bank still enjoyed and how much had been ceded...

We develop a model of two-sided markets that illustrates the role of bargaining power between the two sides of the market. We are interested in the profit maximizing usage fees set by identical duopolistic platforms which engage in homogeneous, Bertrand-type competition. We find that for a...

This paper analyses the relationship between product market competition and labour market institutions in a general equilibrium context. It concludes that an increase in product market competition, enhanced .exibility of labour supply, social security reform and a reduction in union bargaining...