This paper aims at explaining why the CFA countries have successfully maintained a currency union for several decades, despite failing to meet many of optimum currency area criteria. We suggest that the CFA zone, while not optimal, has been at least sustainable. We test this sustainability...

This paper investigates the links between price returns for 25 commodities and stocks over the period from January 2001 to November 2011, by paying a particular attention to energy raw materials. Relying on the dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) GARCH methodology, we show that the...

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether price dynamics is homogeneous across the Eurozone countries. Relying on monthly data over the January 1970-July 2011 period, we test for the absolute purchasing power parity (PPP) hypothesis through the implementation of second-generation panel...

This paper investigates the relationship between forward prices of oil, gas, coal, and electricity using a nonlinear panel cointegration framework. To this end, we consider a panel of 35 maturities and control for the economic and financial environment using equity futures prices. Estimating the...

We investigate price level convergence with Germany in eleven countries belonging to the Eurozone between January 1970 and July 2011. Relying on smooth transition regression models, we show that the price convergence process is nonlinear, depending on the size of the price differential: for most...

Relying on the backward-looking Phillips curve, we estimate the level of inflation that erodes price rigidity and investigate its time constancy. To this end, we employ smooth transition regression models with rolling regressions to account for varying threshold inflation levels. Studying six...

This paper aims at investigating the interactions between three key macroeconomic imbalances, namely current-account discrepancies (external imbalances), output gaps (internal imbalances), and exchange-rate misalignments. To this end, we rely on the estimation of a panel VAR model for a sample...

This paper aims at investigating the relationship between employment and GDP in the United States. We disentangle trend and cyclical employment components by estimating a non-linear Okun’s law based on a smooth transition error-correction model that simultaneously accounts for long-term...

Relying on the backward-looking Phillips curve, we estimate the level of inflation that erodes price rigidity and investigate its time constancy. To this end, we employ smooth transition regression models with rolling regressions to account for varying threshold inflation levels. Studying six...

Although nominal parities have been completely fixed within the euro area since the launch of the single currency, real effective exchange rates have continued to vary under the effect of inflation disparities, exhibiting a strong appreciation in the peripheral countries. In this paper, we...