Overall, household debt levels have risen sharply over the past decades in EU Member States. While certain levels of household debts can be beneficial, they can become problematic especially with a sudden, unexpected decrease of incomes or increase of expenditures. The current financial crisis...

A workshop on the "The Impact of the Crisis on SMEs" was held in the European Parliament in Brussels on 1 February 2010. This document contains the programme, presentations and proceedings of that workshop.

Theeconomic and technical factors involved in using geothermal energy at Ahuachapan are examined. The experience at Ahuachapan is evaluated in relation to conditions prevailing in El Salvador and to conditions in the U.S. technical characteristics considered are: geological characteristics, well...

The Earth Sciences Division of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) is conducting a reservoir evaluation study of the Ahuachapan geothermal field in El Salvador. This work is being performed in cooperation with the Comision Ejecutiva Hidroelectrica del Rio Lempa (CEL) and the Los Alamos National...

To be competitive in the global economy, some argue that Latin American countries need to reduce or eliminate labor market regulations such as minimum wage legislation because they constrain job creation and hence increase poverty. On the other hand, minimum wage increases can have a direct...

Taking advantage of a complex minimum wage structure in Honduras, this paper examines how changes in minimum wages over the 1990-2004 period affect unemployment as well as the employment and average wages of workers in different sectors of the economy: medium and large-scale firms v. small firms...

This report presents the results of a review of the economic literature on selected developmental aspects of international trade trends and trade policies in less developed countries between 2000 and 2011. The views expressed are those which were considered by the authors of this report as...

Das Arbeitspapier behandelt die Vorgeschichte und den Verlauf der IKB-Krise.