This paper examines the possibilities of EU member countries to pursue individual trade policies after implementation of the single market. Having reviewed the relevant changes in the institutional framework formed by GATT and EU legistlation, we examine the car market as a special case. We find...

The Finnish economy has experienced an incredible shock in the first part of the 1990s. The 12 per cent decline in Finland?s GDP between 1991 and 1993 led to a sharp rise in unemployment from 3.5 per cent in 1990 to 18 per cent in 1993. The credibility of the Finnish economic policy has improved...

This paper presents a survey of the studies that have investigated productivity and efficiency in the Finnish public sector. The paper outlines methods that have been used in these studies and presents summaries of main finding. In addition suggestions and reflections on how to take quality into...

This paper reviews the macroeconomic performance of the so called Nordic welfare states, especially in terms of growth and employment. In the post-war years the Nordic economies enjoyed rapid growth and full employment. At the same time, under the rule of Social Democratic governments they also...

Consider a public project which produces a consumption good and which benefits future generations. Let a conventional cost-benefit analysis find that it gives higher benelits than projects it would displace in the private sector. Voters may nevertheless oppose the public project. The cause of...

This paper presents the Finnish system of EMU buffer funds. The idea of the buffer funds is to finance temporary reductions of payroll taxes in a case of asymmetric shock facing the economy. It is well-known that by adjusting payroll taxes it is possible to change real exchange rate, provided...

Previous empirical studies have found a positive relationship between the size of legislature and the size of government. Those studies, however, do not adequately address the concerns of endogeneity. In contrast, this paper uses variation in legislature size induced by statutory council size...

There are problems in the measures of the size of the public sector both from the perspective of welfare state policies, monetary policy and the analysis of the economic role of public sector in general. In practice there are several different measures (e.g. total tax rate, total government...

The paper is structured in two parts. The first one analyses the proposals of the European Commission concerning the reform of the European Union policies and the Eastern enlargement, set out in Agenda 2000. The second addresses the impacts of the Eastern enlargement to Portugal. The paper...