As a result of the macroeconomic convergence process in the light of the 1991 Maastricht Treaty, the monetary union between most of the EU countries started on January 1, 1999. Meanwhile, ten formerly eastern block countries and the Southern Section of Cyprus are preparing their economy for a...

The paper reviews the recent conduct of monetary policy and the central bank’s rule-based behavior in Russia. Using different policy rules, we test whether the central bank in Russia reacts to changes in inflation, output gap and the exchange rate in a consistent and predictable manner. Our...

The paper questions the predominant view on unemployment and wages in the European Un-ion according to which high unemployment is primarily caused by labour market rigidities, i.e. social institutions and regulations which prevent “market-clearing” real wage levels and structures. It is...

In the debate on monetary policy strategies on both sides of the Atlantic, it is now almost a commonplace to contrast the Fed and the ECB by pointing out the former’s flexibility and capacity to adjust rigidity, and the latter’s extreme caution, and obsession with low inflation. In looking...

One strand of the recent literature on the monetary transmission process has focued upon the weak empirical evidence of a liquidity effect in the U.S. This study uses structural VAR methods to reexamine the liquidity effect.

In environments with no commitment and with a need for intertemporal trade, bounded recall is shown to be a sufficient friction for a receipt system (fiat money) to lead to improved allocations in an otherwise frictionless Walrasian model. The absence of other frictions makes price determination...

This paper investigates the long-run effects of average revenue regulation on an electricity transmission monopolist who applies a two- part tariff comprising a variable congestion price and a non-negative fixed access fee. A binding constraint on the monopolistfs expected average revenue lowers...

In this paper we address the possibility of horizontal foreclosure in markets for complementary services (software) where the consumption value of durables (hardware) depends on the availability of software. Horizontal foreclosure occurs when a hardware firm merges with a software firm and the...

TResearch by J.D. Sachs and A.M. Warner, indicates that resource-rich countries are less successful in terms of economic growth than are resource-poor countries. The question of what measures Icelanders need to take to prevent their fishery wealth from limiting economic growth is posed. The main...