This paper focuses on ihe rationale behind fiscal solidarity. It is argued that, while at the national level the main aim of regional policies is to downsize the cost of labor market policies, the motivation behind EU transfers is less straightforward. Here, regional assistance should rather be...

Dutch Abstract: Marktwaarde gewogen indexen mogen zich al jaren in grote belangstelling verheugen. Doordat actief beheerde aandelenmandaten regelmatig teleurstelden, gaven steeds meer professionele en particuliere beleggers de voorkeur aan goedkope beleggingsproducten die de traditionele,...

Over the course of the past few years, too much credit has been made available worldwide, due to financial innovation, overly optimistic expectations and loophole-ridden regulation. Regulatory supervisors have failed because they were unable to prevent this situation. Things took a bad turn...

In this paper the relationship between stock prices and house prices is analysed for six countries over the years 1976-2001. We find that both asset prices show a positive long-term relationship, which can partly be explained by common macro-economic factors such as credit, consumption and...

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...