The European Union will enter Stage Three of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in 1999. The development of euro financial markets and thickness externalities in the use of the euro as a means of payment will be the major factors determining the importance of the euro as an international...

On the international scene, away from national legal rules, the use of different currencies is largely due to the process of the ''Invisible Hand''. How do currencies flow when their circulations are not tightly guided and canalised? The paper develops a three-country model of the world economy...

This paper takes a systematic look at the portfolio choice problem faced by Investment Banks or Funds investing in transition economies. We relate the performance of projects in the transition economies to the broader macreconomics and international environment and evaluate the attractiveness of...

The paper presents a two-country macroeconomic model in which the number of financial assets is endogenous. Imperfect substitutability of assets and international transaction costs give a comparative advantage to large markets, because of demand effects. Agents have more incentives to undertake...

This paper analyses the theoretical arguments and empirical evidence linking enterprise performance in transition economies to the macroeconomic environment. Macroeconomic instability is traced to the unsustainability of the fiscal-financial and monetary programmes of the state and to regulatory...

The paper investigates the impact of financial integration on asset return, risk diversification and breadth of financial markets. We analyse a three-country macroeconomic model in which (i) the number of financial assets is endogenous; (ii) assets are imperfect substitutes; (iii) cross-border...

At the Halifax Summit, in June 1995, the leaders of the G-7 countries proposed several steps to strenghen the international financial system and to apply the lessons taught by the Mexican crisis of 1994-95. Most of those steps have now been taken. They represent a cohesive response to the most...

At the Halifax Summit, in June 1995, the leaders of the G-7 countries proposed several steps to strenghen the international financial system and to apply the lessons taught by the Mexican crisis of 1994-95. Most of those steps have now been taken. They represent a cohesive response to the most...

This brief essay provides a selective discussion of how in recent years economists in the neoclassical tradition have addressed the questions whether and how immigration affects native workers' labour market outcomes. In particular, it discusses: the distinction between the displacement,...