The behavior of commodities is critical for developing and developed countries alike. This paper contributes to the empirical evidence on the co-movement and determinants of commodity prices. Using nonstationary panel methods, we document a statistically significant degree of co-movement due to...

This paper operates at the interface of the literature on the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on host countries, and the literature on the determinants of institutional quality. We argue that FDI contributes to economic development by improving institutional quality in the host country...

This paper examines the issue of fiscal sustainability in emerging market countries and industrial countries. We highlight the importance of the time series properties of the primary surplus and debt, and find evidence of a positive long run relationship. Consequently we emphasise, that...

The disconnect between rising short and low long interest rates has been a distinctive feature of the 2000s. Both research and policy circles have argued that international forces, such as global monetary policy (e.g. Rogoff, 2006); international business cycles (e.g. Borio and Filardo, 2007);...

In early January 2003, the United States and Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua launched official negotiations for the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), a treaty that would expand NAFTA-style trade barrier reductions to Central America. With deeper trade...

This paper works at the interface of the literature exploring the raison d’etre of the informal labor market and that explaining the real exchange rate appreciations occurring in many Latin American countries during periods of reform. We first build a small country-Australian style model where...

In this paper the role of institutions in determining foreign direct investment (FDI) is investigated using a large panel of 107 countries during 1981 and 2005. We find that institutions are a robust predictor of FDI and that the most significant institutional aspects are linked to propriety...

Israeli security measures, which were increased in response to the Intifada in 2000, have imposed a major cost on the economy of the West Bank and Gaza, and are heavily undercutting its current and future developmental capacity. The closures regime - the multi-faceted system of restrictions on...

The relationship between trade liberalisation and informal activity has not received the attention, whether theoretical or empirical, that it may deserve. The conventional view poses that trade liberalisation would cause a rise in informality. This paper uses three different data sets to assess...

EMU monetary policy targets aggregate Euro Area inflation. Concerns are growing that a focus on aggregate inflation may cause national inflation rates to diverge. While different explanations for diverging aggregate Euro Area inflation have been brought forward, the very impact of aggregation on...