Russian monetary policy has been challenged by large and continuous private capital outflows and a sharp drop in oil prices during 2014, with both ongoings having put a significant depreciation pressure on the ruble and having led the central bank to eventually give up its exchange rate...

This paper takes a first step in analysing how a monetary union performs in the presence of labour market asymmetries. Differences in wage flexibility, market power and country sizes are allowed for in a setting with both country-specific and aggregate shocks. The implications of asymmetries for...

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...