Traditional specifications of export equations incorporate foreign demand as a demand pull factor and the real exchange rate as a relative price variable. However, such standard export equations have failed to explain the export performance of euro area countries during the crisis period. In...

The equalization effects of transfer systems has been the subject of analyses to evaluate the effectiveness of redistribution policies and of the adequacy of revenue sharing mechanisms in providing sub national governments with adequate resources to undertake their public responsibilities....

Structured retail products (SRP) are one of the most visible faces of financial innovation and are becoming increasingly popular amongst retail investors. However, there is strong consensus that retail investors’ preference for structured products is difficult to explain using the standard...

This paper uses firm level survey data from Portugal to investigate how firms adjust their labour costs in the presence of wage rigidities. In particular, the paper contributes to the literature by analysing how firms, in the presence of wage rigidity, combine different channels of labour-cost...

Renewable energy deployment is growing rapidly on a global scale. China, Germany, Japan and the US are among the countries with highest capacity of renewables installed. In Germany, for example, the large growth in renewable power generation (RPG) capacities in the past has been mainly due to...

Inspired by the current European crisis, the main goal of this paper is to find how to promote investment, as we think that it has a crucial role on firms’ evolution and economic performance. In fact, our motivation is to find a possible solution to promote economic growth with few Government...

In January 2005 the European Union launched the European Emission Trading Scheme (EUETS) which represents the main policy instrument to achieve the EU Kyoto commitments. The sphere of application of the market is limited, with only certain sectors being subject to it (mostly industries), and...

The paper will discuss whether the increase or introduction of tourism taxation should be addressed through specific or general indirect taxation. With this objective, the paper will describes the concept of tourism taxes and will present different reasons that are in its bases of adoption. The...

This paper is intended as a first approach to effectiveness of the wage reduction in promoting the international competitiveness of the Portuguese economy. It is general knowledge that the promotion of international competitiveness can be promoted by three distinct pathways. The first is to...

The causality between energy consumption and real income in developed countries has been a very vital research topic in recent years. Raising concerns about climate change and global warming increase the pressure on policy makers to take action against energy depletion. Unfortunately these...