This paper examines whether Europe's monetary union framework of "ins" and "outs" reflects differences in market structures underpinned by relatively immobile labour. Such a situation could give rise to sufficient nominal convergence to satisfy the entry requirements to EMU, but little real...

The literature argues that the benefits of an independent Central Bank accrue at no cost to the real side. In this paper, we argue that the lack of correlation between monetary autonomy and output variability, is due to the proactive role of fiscal policy when faced with rigid monetary...

This paper studies the interaction of fiscal and monetary policy within an Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Results suggest that, in a model in which bonds and money are counted as net wealth, the primary source of cross-country heterogeneity in response to a common monetary shock is the...

This report documents the results of cointegration analyses of the degree of convergence which the economies of the central-eastern european countries (CEECs) have achieved towards the economies of the EMU countries. This cointegration technique is applied to several of the core variables that...

We investigate to what extent the expansion of FDI and the internationalization of production can be related to the recent phenomenon of more synchronized business cycles. We first focus on the relationship between bilateral FDI positions and cross-country output correlations in the period 1982-...

This paper investigates the effect of the external wealth position of the Netherlands on the Dutch trade balance. Contrary to intuition which allows net creditors to run a trade deficit, the Netherlands has over a period of years be running trade surpluses. To explain this paradox, not unique to...

This report analyses the portfolio behaviour of Dutch households. The study is partly based on information from a broad survey commissioned by the Nederlandsche Bank, held in March of this year. The investigation shows that risk bearing elements are becoming more and more important in households...

This paper explores the characteristics of the monetary transmission mechanism in the UK, as portrayed by the National Institute's Domestic Econometric Model (NiDEM). Sensitivity to different monetary policy regimes and to alternative models of consumers' expenditure is assessed. The methodology...

This study is an introduction to and summary of the 2002 Annual Meeting papers of the Royal Netherlands Economic Association. The general theme of this year's Annual Meeting is 'The role of wealth in the economy'. It is covered by 5 papers, which address the following topics: (i) household...