We empirically investigate whether the transmission of the recent crisis in euro area sovereign debt markets was due to fundamentals-based or pure contagion. To do so, we examine the behaviour of EMU sovereign bond yield spreads with respect to the German bund for a sample of both central and...

Substantial data revisions have shown that the U.S. recession in 2008 to 2009 was far more pronounced than originally estimated, and that the recovery has been slower than previously assumed. Leading indicators signal that growth will stay weak in the second half of 2011. With key interest rates...

While Japan’s economy is showing the first signs of a hesitant recovery, the upturn already gained a foothold in the U.S. economy in the second half of 2011 on the back of robust domestic demand. Conditions in the labor market relaxed perceptibly, while the real estate market is still waiting...

New evidence is presented on the possible existence of bi-directional causal relationships between public debt and economic growth in both central and peripheral countries of the European Economic and Monetary Union. We test for heterogeneity in the bi-directional Granger-causality across both...

The economic recovery, which had started in Asia and then quickly spread to the U.S.A., recently lost momentum in both regions. In the second quarter of 2010, the U.S. economy recorded real GDP growth (in annualized terms) of a mere 1.7% quarter on quarter, following 3.7% in the first three...

This paper contributes to the literature by applying the Granger-causality approach and endogenous breakpoint test to offer an operational definition of contagion to examine European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) countries public debt behaviour. A database of yields on 10-year government...

The international environment is increasingly being dominated by a cooling global economy. In the U.S.A., the real estate and financial crisis has spilled over to the real economy. Growth in consumer demand has declined, and the deterioration in the labor market suggests a deepening of this...

The global economy continued to look robust at end-2006. In the U.S.A. private consumption increased, notwithstanding the protracted housing slowdown, and the services sector continued to grow at a dynamic pace. In view of the still buoyant economy, a cut in U.S. interest rates does not appear...

The world economy has overcome the cyclical trough. On the back of extensive economic stimulus programs, most economies returned to positive growth rates in the second half of 2009, with emerging countries taking the lead. The rate of the recovery, however, diverges strongly across the different...

U.S. economic growth has been gaining momentum, with the annualized growth rate of real GDP reaching 3.1% in the fourth quarter of 2010. Factoring in this good performance, the IMF has revised upward its economic outlook for 2011 by 0.7 percentage points to 3.0%. At the same time, the labor...