In the presence of rigid prices, movements in the exchange rate help to absorb external shocks and to reduce changes in net exports. However, they also affect firms’ competitiveness, marginal costs, and labor demand. In countries where labor market institutions hinder wage adjustment (for...

We estimate forward-looking interest-rate reaction functions for the G3 economies and for a group of countries which recently adopted inflation targets. Some significant shifts in the conduct of monetary policy are detected in the G3 countries, especially in the USA and Japan. In contrast with...

Die Wirtschaftsprogramme der 23 OECD-Länder setzen unterschiedliche Schwerpunkte. Im Mittelpunkt der Programme stehen Geld- und Fiskalpolitik, Einkommensunterstützung und Konjunkturprogramme, Arbeitsmarktpolitik und andere staatliche Programme in Bereichen wie Infrastruktur, Gesundheit,...

We compute average mark-ups as a measure of market power throughout time and study their interaction with fiscal policy and macroeconomic variables in a VAR framework. From impulse-response functions the results, with annual data for a set of 14 OECD countries covering the period 1970-2007, show...