Practical monetary policy concerns and recent theoretical developments have revived interest in the concept of a "natural" equilibrium real interest rate. The natural real interest rate is potentially an important concept for monetary policy makers and some researchers have suggested that the...

We examine the conduct of monetary policy as implemented by the European Central Bank (ECB) throughout the euro area. Two distinct but closely related approaches are utilized, both of which rely on the assumption that monetary policy can be usefully characterized in terms of a simple Taylor...

This paper reviews some aspects of the literature on the design of fiscal policy rules in monetary unions. We consider the theoretical rationale that motivates the need for imposing fiscal policy rules in the context of a monetary union. Then we analyze mechanisms (other than rules) that can...