Long-run cross-country price data exhibit a puzzle. Today, richer countries exhibit higher price levels than poorer countries, a stylized fact usually attributed to the ‘Balassa-Samuelson’ effect. But looking back 50 years, or more, this effect virtually disappears from the data. What is...

We explore dynamic linkages between financial/banking sector openness, financial sector competition, and growth. We first develop an analytical model, highlighting links between long-run economic performance and the services trade, through scale economies and market and cost structures in the...

This paper integrates in a unified and tractable framework some of the key insights of the field of international trade and economic growth. It examines a sequence of theoretical models that share a common description of technology and preferences but differ on their assumptions about trade...

In this paper we explore linkages between financial services trade and growth. We offer a formalization of the argument that trade, through the fostering of financial market integration, may yield important long-run effects related to increased competition. The relationships formalized here link...

This empirical study of the impact of EMU on capital market integration and consumption smoothing comes to three conclusions: first, EMU promotes members’ holdings of foreign assets and foreign liabilities; second, no benefits of consumption smoothing result; third, EU membership, not a single...

Since Max Weber, there has been an active debate on the impact of religion on people’s economic attitudes. Much of the existing evidence, however, is based on cross-country studies in which this impact is confounded by differences in other institutional factors. We use the World Values Surveys...

Monetary theory and policy are part of intertemporal public finance. This Paper reviews some interesting recent developments. The two ghosts are the venerable liquidity trap and the Pigou effect or real balance effect. The eccentricities are negative nominal interest rates and the helicopter...

A common feature for developing countries that have experienced a sharp drop in inflation without large output losses is the extensive use of capital controls. This study shows that capital controls significantly improve the sacrifice ratio. This element contributes to the explanation of small...

In this Paper we study identification in dynamic factor models and argue that factor models are better suited than VARs to provide a structural representation of the macroeconomy. Factor models distinguish measurement errors and other idiosyncratic disturbances from structural macroeconomic...

Policies are typically chosen by politicians and bureaucrats. This Paper investigates the criteria that should lead a society to allocate policy tasks to elected policymakers (politicians) or non-elected bureaucrats. Politicians are preferable for tasks that do not involve too much specific...