Macroeconomic stabilization and structural reforms in Russia since 1992 have been proceeding in a rather chaotic fashion. The Russian variety of economic gradualism has seen a sharp decline in output, though less than indicated by official statistics, and relatively resilient household...

Given the increasing integration of financial markets, a better understanding of the effects of fiscal deficits and debt on real interest rates might be obtained by taking a global, rather than a national, perspective. The paper constructs aggregate flow and stock data (including GDP, fiscal...

The concept of fiscal impulse is defined, discussed, and differentiated from measures that attempt to summarize the macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy. Two methodologies are briefly discussed and their corresponding measures presented for the G-7 countries over the ten-year period ending in...

The empirical analysis indicates that in the Federal Republic the unemployed primarily influence the relationship between the level of real wages and productivity, rather than the growth of wages. This result suggests a distinction between an equilibrium natural rate of unemployment, which is...

This paper examines the evolution of the relative price between tradable and nontradable goods in a group of European countries. A model of an open economy is used to analyze different factors that can account for an increase in the relative price of nontradable goods. These factors are: (a)...

During long periods of history, countries have pegged their currencies to an international standard (such as gold or the U.S. dollar), severely restricting their ability to create money and affect output, prices, or government revenue. Nevertheless, countries generally have maintained their own...

This paper presents an empirical model to study the response of wages and prices to movements in the nominal exchange rate. A four-equation model is applied to Italian data to evaluate the response of tradeable goods prices, consumer prices, and wages following the lira’s exit from the ERM in...

The credibility of the exchange rate bands in the Nordic countries during 1987-91 is examined with two tests. The results suggest that the credibility of Finland’s exchange rate band within a twelve-month horizon could not be rejected except in the fall of 1991; however, the band lacked...

The petroleum-rich former Soviet republics around the Caspian Sea face the dual challenge of managing the transition to a market economy and a booming resource sector. This paper examines this challenge with particular reference to Azerbaijan. The standard “Dutch disease” model is modified...