In this paper, we question whether there is a catch-up effect or announcement effect in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from the European Union (EU) to the ten EU accession countries. We study FDI outflows from the Netherlands, a small open economy with few historical ties to Eastern Europe, and...

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...

Since the start of the economic transformation in 1978, China has been growing at spectacular level. Given the size and growth of its economy, China is in a position to substantially influence world commodity prices and prices for various consumption goods. This report summarises insights from a...

This paper reviews the rationale for co-ordination of macroeconomic policies in the euro area. It makes clear what co-ordination can do and what it cannot do in European practice. It concludes that with the Pact for Stability and Growth, the framework for co-ordination of fiscal policies has by...

Globalisation is a highly controversial topic. Despite its potential for accelerating growth and reducing poverty (to which most policy makers and economist would agree) objections are often expressed about the position of developing countries, and a number of damaging side-effects of the...

Population aging and pension reform will have profound effects on international capital markets. First, demographic change alters the time path of aggregate savings within each country. Second, this process may be amplified when a pension reform shifts old-age provision towards more pre-funding....

We investigate to what extent the expansion of FDI and the internationalization of production can be related to the recent phenomenon of more synchronized business cycles. We first focus on the relationship between bilateral FDI positions and cross-country output correlations in the period 1982-...

We investigate to what extent the expansion of FDI and the internationalization of production can be related to the recent phenomenon of more synchronized business cycles. We first focus on the relationship between bilateral FDI positions and cross-country output correlations in the period...

This paper investigates the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and business cycle synchronization in the period 1982-2010 for eight industrialized countries. We find that more synchronized business cycles are associated with stronger FDI relations during 1995-2010, but that...

Using a new, comprehensive database on bank ownership, identifying also the home country of foreign banks, for 137 countries over the period 1995-2009, this paper provides an overview of foreign bank activity and its impact of financial development and stability. We document substantial...