This paper applies fuzzy clustering techniques to developed and emerging economies in East Asia, in order to arrive at an identification of potential subgroups of economies for monetary union. The statistical criteria employed is the one suggested by the Optimal Currency Areas theory, and the...

This paper applies fuzzy clustering techniques to developed and emerging economies in East Asia, in order to arrive at an identification of potential subgroups of economies for monetary union. The statistical criteria employed is the one suggested by the Optimal Currency Areas theory, and the...

We exploit homogeneous firm level data of manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors to study the impact of firing restrictions on job flow dynamics across 14 European countries. We find that more stringent firing laws dampen the response of job destruction to the cycle, thus making job...

In this article an overview of the German macroeconomic performance in the last decade is stressed; extraordinary recovery of the German productivity and successes of the foreign trade face depressed domestic demand and a still worrying situation in the labour market. This article attempts to...

This paper constructs a theoretical model to study the effects on employment of the introduction of flexible labour contracts (i.e. with low firing costs), which occurred in many European countries in the 1980s, which it then tests on Spanish data. The model predicts that such contracts increase...

The aim of this paper is the identification of structural shocks which affect the dynamics of sectoral inventories, through an analysis of the forecasting error variance decomposition. This identification is achieved using the American and French time series of aggregate production, sectoral...

We exploit homogeneous firm level data of manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors to study the impact of firing restrictions on job flow dynamics across 14 European countries. We find that more stringent firing laws dampen the response of job destruction to the cycle, thus making job...

The SDN will assess the youth unemployment problem in advanced European countries, with a special focus on the euro area. It will document the main trends in youth and adult unemployment in 22 European countries before and after the global financial crisis. It will identify the main drivers of...