There are a number of major anomalies that arise from forward foreign exchange rates. Though the level of the forward rate is an unbiased predictor of the future spot rate, the forward premium is poor predictor of future spot rate changes; speculative profits are so volatile that implausibly...

The "German view" of expansionary fiscal contractions is that the expansionary expectional effect would outweigh the Kynesian effect of a sever government spending cut. This view relies on consumers behaving according to the permanent income hypothesis; who see spending custs as signals to...

In this paper we ask why was there a consumption boom in Ireland in the late 1980s? We put forward an expalnation, namely, that worsening borrowing conditions led agents to conume more out of disposable income. We explicityly model the economy as consisting of two types of consumers. One type...

A real options model is used to explain why Irish farmers have been slow to switch from traditional farming to forestry despite numerous government incentives. In the theoretical model our results depend on profits from traditional farming relative to forestry. Under reasonable parameterisations...

Commonly used linear-quadratic solution methods to nonlinear models are described in detail using a closed economy real business cycle model as an illustration. We find that all method yield identical coefficients on optimal decision rules. Some methods are easier to use in economies where...

This paper uses the General Household Survey data for the UK to study earnings discrimination between natives and migrants. The key result is that the main source of discrimination is ethnicity rather than migrant status per se. This paper differs from the conventional focus in studies of...