We study fiscal behaviour and the sovereign yield curve in the US and Germany. We obtain the latent factors, level, slope and curvature, with the Kalman filter, and use them in a VAR with macro, fiscal and financial stress variables. In the US, fiscal shocks generate an immediate response of the...

After a decade of a successful peg to the euro, the authorities of Cape Verde are considering the official euroisation of the country. For an "ex ante" economic evaluation of such a move, this paper assesses whether Cape Verde fulfills key economic criteria devised by the optimum currency areas...

We assess the relation between the yield curve and the macroeconomy in the U.S. between 1961 and 2011. We add to the standard parametric macro-finance models, as we uncover evidence simultaneously on the time and frequency domains. We model the shape of the yield curve by latent factors...

This paper assesses the adequacy of the exchange rate regime of 16 African countries that are pegged to the euro since 1999. The evaluation is based on three key criteria borrowed from the optimal currency area literature. A first conclusion is that the peg to the euro has granted the 16...

The aim of this article is to uncover the aggregate monetary policy preferences in the euro area. This is pursued under the assumption of optimizing policy behaviour subject to a simple model of the macroeconomic structure, following a procedure proposed recently in the literature in which GMM...