[eng] Exchange Rate Uncertainty and Unemployment in the Accession Countries : A Case for Euroization by Ansgar Belke and Ralph Setzer . The traditional “ optimum currency area ” approach posits that little is lost in the transition to a very hard peg to a currency union if exchange rate...

This paper surveys earlier studies by the authors, which examine the specific costs and benefits to labour markets from suppressed exchange rate variability. These papers started from a simple model that explains the transmission channel between exchange rate volatility and the labour market and...

The official view of the European Commission for the Central and Eastern European Countries on their way to the euro is: first join the EU, then converge to the Maastricht criteria, then join the ECB. However, some CEES still aim at fixing their currencies to the euro. Why does the ECB oppose so...

Global liquidity expansion has been very dynamic since 2001. Contrary to conventional wisdom, high money growth rates have not coincided with a concurrent rise in goods prices. At the same time, however, asset prices have increased sharply, significantly outpacing the subdued development in...

According to the traditional ‘optimum currency area’ approach, little will be lost from a very hard peg to a currency union if there is little reason for using the exchange rate in response to economic shocks. This paper takes a different approach and highlights the fact that high exchange...

This paper empirically investigates the differences in the motives for raising privatization proceeds for a panel of 22 OECD countries from 1990 to 2001. We test whether privatizations can be mainly interpreted (a) as a means to foster growth, increase tax income, and relax the fiscal stance,...

This paper investigates the relationship between global liquidity and asset prices on a global scale: how important is global liquidity? How are asset (especially house) prices and other important macro variables affected by global monetary conditions? This paper analyzes the international...