Inflation expectations constitute a subject of particular contemporary interest to central banks, especially those pursuing a monetary policy based on a strategy of direct inflation targeting. Macroeconomic theory indicates that the transmission of monetary policy impulses and their impact on...

In Kaleckian models of distribution and growth the equilibrium rate of capacity utilisation may persistently diverge from the "normal rate" of utilisation. We assess this problem following the approach by Dumenil/Levy (1999) who consider the "normal rate" of utilisation in a monetary production...

Excessive inflation is usually attributed to the lack of central bank's credibility. In this context, most of the literature considers transparency a means to establish central bank's credibility. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, it shows that, even in the absence of...

Liquidity problems lie at the heart of crises on financial markets as demonstrated in this paper by detailed descriptions of the stock market crash in 1987, the LTCM-crisis in 1998 and the financial market consequences of 11 September 2001. The events also demonstrate that modern central banks,...

In a simple New Keynesian model, we derive a closed form solution for the inflation-gap persistence parameter as a function of the policy weights in the central bank’s Taylor rule. By estimating the time-varying weights that the FED attaches to inflation and the output gap, we show that the...

In most European countries, money wages are given in collective agreements or individual employment contracts, and the employer cannot unilaterally cut wages, even after the expiration of a collective agreement. Ceteris paribus, workers have a stronger bargaining position when they try to...