Working time flexibility is a potentially important lever to foster the reconciliation of work, family, and private life. Giving workers greater autonomy and more control over their working times could empower them to better balance their work and non-work demands. This could then in turn lead...

This report summarises and synthesises the findings of a research project entitled ‘Reconciling work, private and family life: production of statistical reports’, which consisted of six related Short Statistical Reports (SSRs). The SSRs examined the topics of the Barcelona childcare targets...

This paper presents evidence for structural differences in economic growth dynamics between the current EU and the central- and eastern European accession countries. Two important results emerge from the analysis. First, accession countries have posted higher average growth and wider output...

The paper analyses the evolution of the trade specialisation pattern in the ten countries which will join the EU in 2004, by studying the dynamics of their comparative advantages over the period 1993-2000. The study finds that, although some countries are still broadly relying on natural...

We quantify the degree of persistence in unemployment rates of transition countries using a variety of methods benchmarked against the EU. In part of the paper, we work with the concept of linear u0093Hysteresisu0094 as described by the presence of unit roots in unemployment. Since this is...

This report provides an overview of the state of air quality in 13 central and eastern European countries involved in the European Union's Phare Programme. Based on EUROAIRNET monitoring network data for 1997 as reported by these countries, it also provides information on emission sources and...

The paper extends the standard intertemporal model of the current account to include two important stylised facts: (1) the persistence of current account positions and (2) the relevance of the fiscal balance. Specifically, the paper derives a closed form solution for consumption in the presence...