Euro Area member states have agreed to introduce a structural budget balance target to their national legislation (Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance). However, there exists no commonly agreed methodology to calculate this macroeconomic indicator. This report presents the...

In this paper, we describe key problems of the current EU's fiscal framework and offer constructive alternatives to reforming it. A comprehensive reassessment of the rules is necessary, as the development of the rules has reached an impasse for both political and technical reasons. In our view,...

In this paper, we describe key problems of the current EU's fiscal framework and offer constructive alternatives to reforming it. A comprehensive reassessment of the rules is necessary, as the development of the rules has reached an impasse for both political and technical reasons. In our view,...

This study analyses financial sustainability of the Finnish public sector. Current tax rates are unlikely to yield sufficient tax revenue for financing public expenditure under an ageing population. In the base alternative we assume that the European crisis does not worsen and that productivity...

This study analyses financial sustainability of the Finnish public sector. Current tax rates are unlikely to yield sufficient tax revenue for financing public expenditure under an ageing population. The estimate of the sustainability gap is 2 1/2 per cent of GDP, for the period 2010 - 2060. The...

This study analyses financial sustainability of the Finnish public sector. Current tax rates are unlikely to yield sufficient tax revenue for financing public expenditure under an ageing population. The estimate of the sustainability gap is 2 1/2 per cent of GDP, for the period 2010 - 2060. The...

Postal service volumes have diminished and the profitability of postal and courier activities has weakened in Finland in recent years. The study evaluates the development of the service volumes, profitability and employment of postal and courier activities until 2020. The distribution volumes of...

There are over 3 billion searches globally on Google every day. This report examines whether Google search queries can be used to predict the present and the near future unemployment rate in Finland. Predicting the present and the near future is of interest, as the official records of the state...

The share of private consumption in gross domestic product is significant; therefore, private consumption has a great influence on economic growth, which makes it a major concept in economics. The purpose of the paper is to estimate and evaluate different forecasting models for private...

This report examines whether Google search queries can be used to predict the present and the near future house prices in Finland. Compared to a simple benchmark model, Google searches improve the prediction of the present house price index by 7.5 % measured by mean absolute error. In addition,...