The purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction to the methodology known as Structural Vector Autoregression (SVAR) analysis and to examine its applicability in the context of Irish macroeconomics. The SVAR approach has been developed over the last decade to interpret business cycle...

A key decision facing the newly formed European Central Bank will be the specification of a monetary policy strategy for the euro area. This article considers how monetary policy may be conducted within EMU, focusing on the main strategies under consideration. The agreed instruments and...

The most popular method of measuring structural budget balances is the “gaps plus elasticities” approach. Abtract: In this paper, it is argued that the idiosyncratic features of an economy need to be accounted for properly when seeking to achieve good estimates of structural budget balances...

The European Monetary Institute have narrowed down the choice of candidate strategies for a single monetary policy within European Monetary Union to inflation targets or monetary aggregate targets. In practice it is unlikely to be a simple choice between these targets, since all monetary...

With a favourable demographic profile, a budget balance currently in surplus and gross government debt under 60 per cent of GDP, Ireland would appear to be an economy with time on its side before any concerns about fiscal sustainability arise. In this paper, it is argued that favourable baseline...

This paper examines the impact of interest rate changes on real economic activity for a range of European Union (EU) countries including Ireland. The objective is to compare how monetary policy changes are transmitted to output in these economies. The analysis is based on evidence prior to the...