This paper shows that a modified real business cycle (RBC) model, one that includes home production and fiscal spending shocks, can solve one of the RBC puzzles and generates zero correlation between wages and hours. In addition, the micro-founded model presented here provides a sound...

This paper studies the wasteful effect of bureaucracy on the economy by addressing the link between opportunistic behavior of government bureaucrats and the public sector wage bill. In particular, public officials are modeled as individuals competing for a larger share of those public funds. A...

This paper takes an otherwise standard real-business-cycle (RBC) setup with government sector, and augments it with an output-expropriation mechanism and shocks to institutional quality in order to study business cycle fluctuations. The extraction decision is endogenous: households can use their...

The integration of technology in the educational process is becoming increasingly important for improving the 21st century student’s understanding and retention of academic material. Being able to readily apply the theory covered in class and to automatically receive immediate feedback is...

Motivated by recent debates on the possible role of wages as an income policy tool, in this study we examine the dynamic inter-relationship between wages in Bulgaria, mainly in the context of its EU accession. Relative to the WDN studies on the other EU member states, the novelty in this paper...

This paper provides a quantitative assessment of the 2007-08 corporate and personal income tax reforms in Bulgaria. The simple investment model, based on Tobin’s q-theory is calibrated to Bulgarian data before and after the reform. Based on numerical simulations, capital stock is predicted to...

Griechenland steht am Scheideweg. Die Frage eines dritten Hilfsprogramms ist akut. Die griechische Regierung fordert einen weiteren - de facto öffentlichen - Schuldenschnitt. Eine andere Option wäre, öffentliche Kredite in BIP-indexierte Kredite umzuwandeln. Die Zinszahlungen wären dann an...

Greece is standing at a crossroads. The need for a third rescue package has now become a critical issue. The Greek government is calling for another de facto-public debt restructuring. An alternative option presented here would be to convert existing GLF loans into GDP-linked loans. Interest...

Motivated by the highly-unionized public sectors, the high public shares in total employment, and the public-sector wage premia observed in Europe, this paper examines the importance of public-sector unions for macroeconomic theory. The model generates cyclical behavior in hours and wages that...

The German economy is continuing on an upward trend. Due to surprisingly weak production at the start of this year, GDP is likely to increase by 1.8 percent and is therefore growing somewhat slower this year than previously predicted. Growth of 1.9 percent is still expected for the coming year....