When Contracting Parties finally signed the Uruguay Round GATT Agreements, then EC Members were split on reform of the EC banana import regime. An ambiguous legal outcome allowed EC States to sign the GATT accords while reserving the right to challenge the EC banana regime, defended adamantly by...

We estimate a two-country Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model for the US and the euro area including relevant housing market features and examine the monetary policy implications of housing-related disturbances. In particular, we derive the optimal monetary policy cooperation consistent...

This paper aims at the provision of applicable recommendations for institutions and actors involved regarding the EMU accession process both in CEE and in the euro-zone. In order to provide topical advice, the first part, on markets, will concentrate on theory and empirics of labour markets,...

We use a novel disaggregate sectoral euro area data set with a regional breakdown to investigate price changes and suggest a new method to extract factors from over-lapping data blocks. This allows us to separately estimate aggregate, sectoral, country-specific and regional components of price...

European economic integration is commonly believed to be incomplete, and that further reforms are needed. In this context, the union of U.S. states is considered the benchmark of complete economic integration and is often the basis for comparison regarding the extent of E.U economic integration....

The Middle East was once seen as a medieval great globalized force. Nowadays it shows one of the lowest intra-regional trade in the world and therefore it is claimed that the region is poorly integrated. Yet, with the steady flow of workers across national borders of the Middle East is this...

We present a two-country New Open Economy Macro model of the Austrian economy within the European Union's Economic & Monetary Union (EMU). The model includes both nominal and real frictions that have proven to be important in matching business cycle facts, and that allows for an investigation of...

Competitive pressures for EU industries have mounted because the international division of labour through trade has been complemented by corporate globalisation strategies. The EU is shown to' have dealt with this challenge less successfully than the other two members of the Triad. So far, it...

This paper analyzes the Capital Requirements Directive IV and the Capital Requirements Regulation, a new legislative package proposed by the European Commission in July 2011 which aims to strengthen the regulation of the banking sector and amend the European Union's rules on capital requirements...

Using annual bilateral data over the period 1988-2011 for a panel of 24 industrialised and emerging economies, we analyse in a time-varying framework the determinants of output synchronisation in EMU (European Monetary Union) distinguishing between core and peripheral member states. The results...