The paper develops a unified general equilibrium model includingsavings with overlapping generations, investment and search unemploament. Long-run analytical results for the small open economy identify capital accumulation as a prime transmission channel. The effects of integration on...

We consider the political economy of a monetary union where member governments attempt to influence the policy of the common central bank. Modeling this as a common agency with incentive contracts, we show that if incentives are all that matters for the bank, the equilibrium implements a...

Producers or consumers faced with an increase in taxes are usually able to shift parts of it to other levels in the value chain. We examine whos is actually bearing the burden of increased energy taxes in the EU-area - consumers or exporters. Traditional tax incidence theory presumes spot...

The ultimate object of research concerning the Euro is to answer the following questions: (#1) What is the equilibrium trajectory of the nominal euro, measured as dollars/euro? (#2) To what extent has the equilibrium nominal euro been determined by relative prices (PPP), and to what extent has...

The European population is living longer but retiring earlier. More and more individuals are spending an increasing fraction of their life-time relying on retirement benefits. At the same time, social security programs face mounting financial difficulties. The purpose of this paper is to explain...

Ten Central and Eastern European countries, as well as Cyprus and Malta, have applied for membership of the European Union. Membership involves, among others, alignment of the taxes on tobacco products. Within the "aquis communautaire", accession countries can choose between a predominantly...

This paper studies the experiences with fiscal adjustments in the European Union (EU) countries during the transition period to the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Using several approaches suggested in the literature on fiscal adjustments and their macroeconomic effects and in the literature...

Most macroeconomic models treat the central bank and the treasury as a unified entity. The balance sheet of the central bank is therefore implicitly treated as an accounting fiction. While this is often realistic, the central bank balance sheet today, with the US and ESCB balance sheets nearly...

What political objective should a common central bank in a heterogeneous monetary union pursue? Should it base its decisions on the EU-wide average of inflation and growth or should it instead focus on (appropriately weighted) national rates of inflation and growth? We find that a central bank...