AbstractEuropean social policy has two central dimensions: the relation between liberalized market freedoms and social protection, on the one hand, and the distribution of regulatory competencies between the supranational and the national level on the other. The posted workers issue, i.e. the...

This paper argues that the conventional view which sees international transport costs reductions as the major force in price convergence cannot be upheld when the period under scrutiny is extended to the last two centuries. Domestic transport costs fell for land-locked regions while real...

This paper evaluates the robustness of trade liberalization in Central Europe and the role of the Europe Agreements (EAs) in institutionalizing this process. It finds a) that institutions are still fragile in Central Europe; b) that the EAs are not a great force for liberalism (on either side);...

Small economies rarely embrace free trade, a fact that is commonly explained as a consequence of the government's use of trade policy to redistribute income. But why is this redistribution typically biased in favor of import-competing sectors and is consequently trade restricting rather than...

The effectiveness of a central bank's monetary policy depends on the incentives of its head and board members to pursue an efficient policy in the citizens interest. Today, however, these incentives are weakened by three kinds of regulations. First, in almost all countries, only nationals may be...