According to the European Regulatory Framework in Telecommunications sector, one of the main tasks required from the NRAs is to promote efficient investment and innovation in the field. The aim of this paper is to estimate the relevance of regulation for the growth of investment across 16 EU...

In order to assess the existence of expansionary fiscal consolidations in Europe, panel data models for private consumption are estimated for the EU15 countries, using annual data over the period 1970–2005. Three alternative approaches to determine fiscal episodes are used, and the level of...

The paper surveys the main trends of per capita income convergence in the European Union. It stresses that income disparities have ceased to diminish across the European regions since 1980, although convergence between countries has continued in this period. Income levels have diverged inside...

Main trends of per capita income convergence in Portugal and the European Union are surveyed. An explanation is given to the fact that in the last two decades countries have converged, while no visible convergence has taken place among the regions belonging to a given country. A theoretical...

According to conventional macroeconomics, public debt has a significant effect on the economy since consumers see public debt as net wealth, however, according to the Ricardian Equivalence hypothesis, that effect would be absent. This paper’s results, obtained from Euler equation estimations,...

We compare Europe with the USA and Canada as regards business cycle synchronization and core-periphery patterns. A long sample (1950-2005) makes it possible to study how these aspects have evolved over time. Results support the economic viability of EMU. Average cyclical correlations among...

This paper aims to assess the competitiveness of exports of manufactured goods from China and India to the European Union in the 2000s. The empirical analysis is based on two methodologies: (i) a Constant Market Share analysis which allows to decompose the export growth to the European market...

Well-functioning financial markets and banking institutions are usually considered to be a condition favourable to economic growth. The importance of bank efficiency and bank market concentration has also been the object of discussion, with the general belief that while they are of particular...

This paper identifies the determinants of macroeconomic forecasts (budget balance, public debt and real GDP growth), of the governments of the 15 EU countries. We have used the forecasts of the Stability and Convergence Programmes submitted between 1998/99 and 2008/09 and the European...

This paper provides empirical evidence on the causality relations between bank performance and economic growth in a panel including 27 European Union member-states from 1996 through to the onset of the 2008 financial crisis. Bank performance is represented not only by the Return on Assets (ROA)...