Recently, convincing evidence has been presented that the recession in the wake of the recent financial crisis resulted primarily from an overly levered housing sector that was forced to deleverage and cut consumption spending when faced with collapsing housing prices. Following this...

In this paper we explore the optimal policy reaction to an asset price boom. Empirical evidence shows that the monetary policy stance is typically loose during asset price booms. Emplying a modified New Keneysian sticky price model we show that this policy of leaning with the wind can be...

Recently it has often been claimed that globalization eases the job of central banks as it helps to tame inflation. This is used to argue that central banks (particularly the ECB, referring to the objectives as laid down in the EU Treaty) could or should reduce their efforts in the fight against...

This paper examines whether the degree of fiscal decentralization in aid-receiving countries matters in explaining aid effectiveness. The decentralization theorem predicts that the devolution of powers should increase aid effectiveness, since local decision-makers are better informed about local...

We study how natural-resource rents affect the risk of internal conflict within countries and how the federal structure of countries influences this relationship. Natural-resource abundance may induce excessive rent-seeking and thus increase the risk of internal conflict. Fiscal and political...