Countries in Eastern and Central Europe that are likely to join the European Union will eventually also join the European Monetary Union. The process of accession will entail a transition period at the end of which it is certain that the domestic currency will be replaced by the Euro. This paper...

Debt sustainability is an essential attribute of good macroeconomic policies but its precise definition is elusive and its assessment is even more challenging. The IMF has developed a sophisticated approach but it must be recognized that, because the future is unknown, any debt sustainability...

Traditionally the IMF's Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions has been the main source of information about the exchange-rate policies pursued by member countries. The classification contained therein has been used to document the evolution of exchange rate regimes...

Economists have recently begun trying to explain that pattern of Regional Trade Agreement (RTA) formation around the world. This paper adds to the developing literature by taking into account the fact that many of the RTAs signed are not effectively implemented. The analysis proceeds in two...

Knowledge spillovers and technical externalities play a fundamental role in basically all endogenous growth models. In a context of increasing returns to scale and transportation costs it seems reasonable to assume that regional agglomeration of production and R&D activities is linked to...

This paper gathers evidence on apparent discrepancies between EU decisions and stock market's anticipations of the anti-competitive consequences of particular mergers. We consider a sample of about 100 mergers, which include all phase II cases, and explore some of the factors that may account...

This paper analyses the impact of preference erosion on Bangladesh’s clothing industry coming from both the ATC quotas phasing-out and the reduction on MFN tariffs under NAMA negotiations. First, it undertakes a numerical exercise to estimate the effects of tariffs reduction in the US and the...

We examine the difference that various exchange rate arrangements can make toward stabilizing effective nominal and real exchange rates, with special attention to the Asian experience. It concludes that formal basket pegging is unlikely to be sustainable but can easily mimicked with...

Inflation targeting is a statement about the objective of central bank policy and not about operating procedures. Its success depends not only on the actions of the central bank, but requires a broad consensus concerning the proper role of monetary policy in the economy. It also requires the...

The paper investigates how Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) affect the range of goods exported by a nation. We use the Melitz model and highly dis-aggregated data on Euro-Mediterranean trade to measure the effect of preferential trade liberalization on the range of traded products. By...