Foreign trade is an important mechanism for economic integration with other countries, and plays a significant role in economic growth. The possible impacts of EU membership on Estonian foreign trade have been discussed for years without reaching a clear conclusion. Although the current paper...

This paper analyses the development of roundwood trade in Europe in the context of changes in supply and trading patterns due to liberalisation in European transitional economies (CEEC), nature-oriented forest management as well as prospective EU enlargement. First, it is studied whether...

The European Union fulfills its emissions reductions commitments by means of an emissions trading scheme covering some part of each member state's economy and by national emissions control in the rest of their economies. The member states also levy energy/emissions taxes overlapping with the...

The European Union fulfills its emissions reductions commitments by means of an emissions trading scheme covering some part of each member state's economy and by national emissions control in the rest of their economies. The member states also levy energy/emissions taxes overlapping with the...

This volume was prepared by Sebastian Benz while he was working at the Ifo Institute. It was completed in December 2013 and accepted as a doctoral thesis by the Department of Economics at the University of Munich. It includes five self-contained chapters. All chapters discuss different...

Der Außenhandel zwischen der bestehenden "EU der 15" und den Beitrittskandidaten Mittel- und Osteuropas hat sich in den vergangenen 10 Jahren stürmisch ausgeweitet. Ausgehend von der traditionellen "klassischen" Handelstheorie und den Thesen der "Neuen Ökonomischen Geographie" werden die...

Ein Thema, das in der jüngeren außenwirtschaftlichen Literatur zunehmend Beachtung findet, ist die Wahl der Währung, in der internationale Handelstransaktionen abgerechnet (fakturiert) werden. Es geht um die Frage, ob ein international tätiges Unternehmen den Preis für Güter oder...

This paper investigates the in inflationary effects of fscal policy in an optimizing general equilibrium monetary model with capital accumulation, exible prices and wealth effects. The model is calibrated to Euro Area quarterly data. Simulation results show that government defcits, high debt...

This paper investigates the performance of optimised interest rate rules when there is uncertainty about a key determinant of the monetary transmission mechanism, namely the degree of persistence characterising the inflation process. The paper focuses on the euro area and utilises two variants of...

This paper reviews the key economic issues concerning the welfare costs of inflation and deflation, with a view to shedding light on the desirable properties of the inflation process. Our review of the evidence on the overall costs of inflation and deflation indicates that such costs could be...