Debt levels have surged since the mid-1990s and have reached historic highs across the OECD. High debt levels can create vulnerabilities, which amplify and transmit macroeconomic and asset price shocks. Furthermore, high debt levels hinder the ability of households and enterprises to smooth...

The economic and financial crisis was the catalyst for a fiscal crisis that engulfs many OECD countries. Consolidating public finances in order to address the consequences of the crisis, underlying weaknesses and also future spending pressures creates important challenges. Fiscal consolidation...

This paper summarizes the content of the EC’s internal market programme and progress made in its implementation. It analyses the mechanisms which should lead to welfare gains, and reviews a wide variety of micro- and macroeconomic indicators in order to ascertain whether integration has...

This paper first provides a brief overview of the literature on market segmentation and then presents an empirical exercise that sheds more light on the significance of border effects across European countries. The literature suggests that integration in the EU goods and financial markets is...

This paper surveys various estimates of the macroeconomic implications of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Most available studies focus on policies to reduce CO2 emissions and are limited to the costs of such policies. The survey first examines the key factors shaping baseline emission...

This paper surveys empirical studies of the costs of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. It updates and extends an earlier paper, which focused on baseline emission scenarios and the aggregate cost of emission reductions. It attempts to explain some of the differences in simulation results and...

This paper reviews fiscal relations within the European Union in the context of the theory of fiscal federalism and of the principle of subsidiarity. It analyses the fiscal policy implications of the introduction of the single currency, tax harmonisation and competition issues and spending at...

This paper summarises and analyses results of the OECD's Model Comparisons Project. The aim of the project is to better understand differences across six global models in the cost of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. In order to facilitate comparisons, key assumptions and reduction targets have...

This paper highlights the factors that limit or increase cyclical divergence in the euro area and reviews one policy area that is important in fostering a speedy adjustment to shocks: the transmission of monetary policy via the housing market. A high interest rate sensitivity of housing markets...

Taxes levied on the carbon content of fuels (carbon taxes) are being considered in many OECD countries as a possible policy instrument to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. This paper first reviews the policy response in Member countries to the threat of global warming. It then discusses the link...