E-commerce -- an application of the Internet -- has expanded exponentially over the past 5 years and is widely expected to continue to develop rapidly in the medium-term. Much, however, remains to be done to fully exploit the opportunities offered by e-commerce. And as e-commerce develops, it...

This paper reviews immigration trends and their economic impacts in a number of OECD countries. While migration systems present similarities across countries, institutional arrangements vary widely and impact on the size and composition of migration flows. Some of the main factors driving...

In response to the potential threat of global warming many countries are considering cost effective policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this context much attention has been paid to taxes levied on the carbon content of fuels (carbon taxes), since they are a potentially efficient...

One year ago most economic observers predicted that "fundamentals" were such that the euro was set to appreciate. In the event, the opposite has occurred. This has rekindled a debate on how well foreign exchange markets reflect fundamental determinants and led to calls for greater exchange rate...

Widening imbalances in current account positions across some of the major OECD economic areas have raised concerns about related increases in protectionist sentiments. This paper reviews recent trends in market openness indicators and assesses whether barriers to international trade and...

This paper attempts to discern from financial market data the impact of greater monetary policy transparency over the period since the late 1980s. We examine whether interest rate variability has changed, the degree to which financial markets anticipate policy moves and movements in the yield...

The paper studies a two-sector monetary economy with two factors of production, labor and capital. The industrial sector has increasing returns to scale, the consumption sector non-increasing returns. All firms maximize profits and markets clear. For each rate of return on capital the model...