Productivity is the main factor holding back long-term economic growth in Italy. Since the second half of the 1990s, productivity growth has been feeble both by historical standards and compared with the other main euro area countries. Understanding the reasons for such a performance and finding...

The IMF has faced criticism of its expansive use of conditionality. The paper proposes a new procedure for IMF lending designed to meet these criticisms by arguing for the legalization and formalization of the procedure for IMF lending in the light of legal concepts derived mainly from national...

This paper assesses the reactions of the United States and the twelve economies of the European Monetary Union (EMU) to the financial crisis of 2008-2009. The rapidly spreading financial and economic contagion uncovered structural problems of each member of the EMU that impacted their relative...

The coefficients of a model estimated with a linear regression fail to represent a causal relation when this model is part of an accounting (semi) identity, because the coefficient is constrained to fulfill this identity. The aggregate consumption function suffers from this problem and its...

The goal of this paper is to examine the shape of the Laffer curve quantitatively in a simple neoclassical growth model calibrated to the US as well as to the EU-15 economy. We show that the US and the EU-15 area are located on the left side of their labor and capital tax Laffer curves, but the...

We characterize the Laffer curves for labor taxation and capital income taxation quantitatively for the US, the EU-14 and individual European countries by comparing the balanced growth paths of a neoclassical growth model featuring "constant Frisch elasticity" (CFE) preferences. We derive...

We compare Laffer curves for labor and capital taxation for the US, the EU-14 and individual European countries, using a neoclassical growth model featuring "constant Frisch elasticity" (CFE) preferences. We provide new tax rate data. The US can increase tax revenues by 30% by raising labor...

The aim of this paper is to investigate the size of the government in 12 OECD countries. Data are gathered from Penn Tables. Clustered robust OLS estimation techniques have been used. Also Panel estimation techniques have been applied, FE and RE estimation. The functional form is quadratic is...

We seek to understand how Laffer curves differ across countries in the U.S. and the EU-14, thereby providing insights into fiscal limits for government spending and the service of sovereign debt. As an application, we analyze the consequences for the permanent sustainability of current debt...