The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of the Chinese foreign exchange policy on foreign trade with the European Union. After describing the importance of the exchange rate in an open economy and some of the methodologies employed to calculate its equilibrium value, we examine whether...

This study is based on the idea that inadequate use of fiscal policy through restrictive policies shifts the short-run demand curve that in turn induces shifts in the long-run supply curve leading to a dynamic reduction of growth. The analogy with the old metaphor of the Spanish horse seems...

The aim of this paper is to examine to what extent the adoption by Portugal of an exchange rate target zone regime in the context of its participation in the ERM of the EMS can be characterised by the existence of a nonlinear S-shaped relationship between the exchange rate and its fundamental....

The Fiscal Compact has created new responsibilities in terms of quantitative measures of excess demand in the economy. The concept of structural budget balance is dependent on cycle values. As a consequence one of the primary responsibilities of economics is to build a good indicator of the...

The Portuguese economy has benefited from large amounts of European structural funds since the mid-eighties. At the same time, interest rates have decreased substantially, mainly due to a credibility phenomenon. The effects of those funds and the reduction of financial costs can be considered as...

The aim of this study is to assess to what extent the Portuguese participation in the European Monetary System (EMS) has been characterized by mean reverting behaviour, as predicted by the exchange rate target zone model developed by Krugman (1991). For this purpose, a new class of mean...

The purpose of this study is to improve understanding of the gold standard period in Portugal through comparison with other monetary systems that were operated afterwards. Portugal was the first country in Europe to join Great Britain in the gold standard, in 1854, and it adhered to it for quite...

This paper analyses the spread of the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone. To this end we employ three approaches. The first approach employs univariate autoregressive models. These allow the identification of shocks to government bond yields in Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain and...

One of the primary responsibilities of economics is to build a good indicator of the magnitude of short term disequilibrium. Knowledge of the magnitude of the excess demand in the economy is essential for conducting fiscal and monetary policy. In a period of contraction when monetary policy is...

The increase in both public and private indebtedness has been one of the main macroeconomic developments in recent years. This trend has been accompanied by large current account deficits, especially in smaller countries, such as Greece and Portugal. One possible explanation for this behaviour...