This paper employs stochastic simulations of a small structural rational expectations model to investigate the consequences of the zero bound on nominal interest rates. We find that if the economy is subject to stochastic shocks similar in magnitude to those experienced in the U.S. over the...

This book is neither the first nor last word on the role of organised civil society in democratic life inthe European Union. However, it does present a number of fascinating illustrations about the way civilsociety organisations provide avenues of expression for the European citizen.Above all,...

Study on Social Media and Social Networking as agents of Participatory Democracy and Civic Empowerment - The EESC Engages Organised Civil Society Organisations Online - Final Report Social Media have clearly altered the nature of civil society and also have an impact on democratic and political...

Perhaps the financial and economic crisis, which has now emerged as a fundamental crisis of the EU’s role in European society, can be seen as an opportunity to rejuvenate civil society to different, and potentially more productive and co-operative roles in decision-making processes. As is...

This is a survey on the recent game theoretic literature on committee decision making. We consider theoretical work on the role of (i) strategic voting, (ii) costly information acquisition, (iii) conflicting interests, and (iv) communication in committees. Moreover, we review recent experimental...

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 examines the feasibility of implementing Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) Control in structural cointegrated VAR models and sheds some light on the two major problems generated by such implementation. The first aspect to be taken into account is the effect of the presence of unit roots...

A two-country sticky-price model is used to analyse the interactions between fiscal and monetary policy. The role of an u0091activistu0092 fiscal policy as a stabilisation tool is considered and a measure of the welfare gains from international fiscal policy cooperation is derived. It is found...

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...