[...]Inflation targeting in New Zealand followed legislationthat mandated a Policy Targets Agreement (PTA)between the elected government and the newlyindependent central bank, which resulted in a jointlydecided numerical target for inflation.[...]

While consumption habits have been utilised as a means of generating a hump shapedoutput response to monetary policy shocks in sticky-price New Keynesian economies,there is relatively little analysis of the impact of habits (particularly, external habits) onoptimal policy. In this paper we...

In practice, central banks have been confronted with a trade-off between stabilising inflation and output when dealing with rising oil prices. This contrasts with the result in the standard New Keynesian model that ensuring complete price stability is the optimal thing to do, even when an oil...

In this paper we present an extension of the Taylor model with staggered wages inwhich wage-setting is also influenced by reference norms (i.e. by benchmark wages).We show that reference norms can considerably increase the persistence of inflationand the extent of real wage rigidity but that...

This paper estimates a structural model of multiple-species harvesting costs in the easternGulf of Mexico reef fish fishery. The calibrated model is used to predict fleet size, vessellevelharvesting activity and fleet-wide revenues and costs that are expected under a proposedindividual fishing...

We analyze the effect of enhanced annuities on an insurer engaging in individualunderwriting. We use a frailty model for the heterogeneity of the insured populationand model the individual underwriting by a random variable that positivelycorrelates with the corresponding frailty factor. For a...

In the last few years it has been possible to observe decreasing interest margins forGerman universal banks. At the same time, institutions increasingly moved partof their business from interest to fee-earning activities. This study analyzes thedeterminants of non-interest income and its impact...

Despite extensive research interest in the last decade, the banking literature has notreached a consensus on the impact of bank mergers on deposit rates. In particular,results on the dynamics of deposit rates surrounding bank mergers vary substantiallyacross studies. In this paper, we aim for a...

Auch wenn die grundsätzliche Idee von Hedge Funds schon mehr als ein halbes Jahrhundertbesteht, so hat diese Anlageform doch erst in den letzten Jahren an Bedeutunggewonnen, und zwar sowohl in der Praxis als auch in der der akademischen Forschung.Dabei sind Hedge Funds in die größere Klasse...

As is well known, the uncovered interest rate parity fails in the short run but usually holds in the long run. This paper analyses the long and short run interest rate parity of 10 mayor OECD currencies and finds that there is a long run failure of the uncovered interest rate parity condition...