Previous assessments of nominal exchange rate determination have focused upon a narrow set of models typically of the 1970's vintage, including monetary and portfolio balance models. In this paper we re-assess the in-sample fit and out-of-sample prediction of a wider set of models that have been...

The cyclicality of real wages has important implications for the validity of competing business cycle theories. However, the empirical evidence on the aggregate level is inconclusive. Using a threshold vector autoregressive model for the US and Germany to condition the relationship between real...

The East Asian miracle was real. Prior to the 1997 economic and currency crises, Asian NICs - Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan - achieved remarkable annual GDP growth. In these countries the overall economic performance was significantly determined by the industrial development triggered...

We present results for two contingent valuation surveys conducted in Hamilton, Canada and the US to elicit WTP for mortality risk reductions. We find similar Value of Statistical Life estimates across the two studies, ranging from USD 930,000 to USD 4,8 million (2000 US dollars). WTP increases...

A simple auction-theoretic framework is used to examine symmetric litigation environments where the legal ownership of a disputed asset is unknown by the court. The court observes only the quality of the case presented by each party, and awards the asset to the party presenting the best case....

Survey data from the United States, West Germany and East Germany are analyzed to compare individual attitudes towards political redistribution in each country. In West Germany the "homo oeconomicus effect", the "social rivalry effect" and the "public values effect" simultaneously retain an...

Im vorliegenden Aufsatz werden die Gründe für den Unterschied zwischen den Arbeitlosenquoten in Europa und den Vereinigten Staaten erläutert. Nach Solow ist die Ursache der Arbeitslosigkeit nicht allein die Arbeitsmarktrigidität in Europa, sondern ebenfalls die geringe Nachfrage nach Arbeit,...

This paper discusses long-term trends in the macroeconomic growth performance and in income distribution in Europe and the U.S. We review insights from the recent macroeconomic literature on inequality and growth and use these insights to shed light on the growth and inequality trends.

This paper reports the results of a survey among private sector economists about credibility and transparency of central banks. In line with the survey of Alan Blinder among central bankers, we asked participants in Ifo's World Economic Survey to answer questions on the importance and...