Dutch media often pay a lot of attention to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). They are considered to be the engine of the Dutch job industry and therefore deserve our attention. In this study we highlight the role the Dutch SMEs play in the Dutch economy. This study's first objective is...

In the empirical literature, not much support is found for the uncovered interest parity. Especially with free floating exchange rates, the forward rate is a biased predictor of the future exchange rate. This phenomenon can both be explained by an absence of rational expectations or by risk...

One of the major puzzles of the economic profession is the pricing of exchange rates. Despite the development of numerous theories, the actual behaviour of exchange rates, especially in the short run, is not well understood. This article evaluates several popular exchange rate theories and...

This report investigates monetary transmission in a monetary union of developing countries (West-African monetary union or Communauté Financière Africaine, CFA). This requires existing monetary transmission models to be adapted. Three econometric methods are applied to assess the impact of...

The headline inflation rate is subject to unpredictable, temporary, sector-specific shocks. Therefore, various measures of core inflation have been proposed to isolate the underlying or permanent inflation component. In this paper, a number of criteria are used to evaluate several statistical...

This article discusses and advocates extension of the traditional price index to include asset prices. A price index which reflects current asset prices would be of great help to those preparing monetary policy for EMU, and is particularly relevant in the current situation of low inflation as...

Countries differ as to financial structure. That goes also for countries taking part in the Economic and Monetary Union, EMU. As a result, the ECB's monetary policy does not necessarily affect economic activity and price developments in individual euro area countries to the same extent. The...