We explore the properties of velocity in a model where agents are required by law to use money to pay taxes, but not for any other private purchases. The model is applied to Brazil between 1975 and 1990. We show that the model mimics consumption velocity very closely during the high-inflation years.

The foreign exchange market is the largest, fastest-growing financial market in the world. Yet conventional macroeconomic approaches do not explain why people trade foreign exchange. At the same time, they fail to explain the short-run determinants of the exchange rate. These nine innovative...

This paper examines the evolution of the relative price between tradable and nontradable goods in a group of European countries. A model of an open economy is used to analyze different factors that can account for an increase in the relative price of nontradable goods. These factors are: (a)...

Using 1970-85 sectoral data for the OECD we find that inflation in nontradable good exceeds inflation in tradables. We identify a demand shift towards nontradables and faster growth of total factor productivity in the tradable goods sector as the prime causes of the differential inflation. In...

Was the European Union ever a liberal dream? How did the common market impact the liberalization in its member states? Has the EU fostered more or less economic freedom in the Old Continent? This book explores the intellectual and political genesis of the European Union, focusing especially on...