An increase in the unemployment rate is one of the most serious consequences of macroeconomic crises. In Portugal, the impact of the deep recession of 2009 has been particularly strong. In this paper, after quantifying this macroeconomic problem, an input-output approach is used in order to...

We estimate fiscal responses for an OECD panel, accounting for cross-country interactions, and also estimate the fiscal responses in a panel VAR. We find that governments have increased primary balances when facing higher government indebtedness, implying a Ricardian fiscal regime, while primary...

The aim of this paper is to estimate the impact on the distribution of household income and poverty of the 2010 reform of the law that establish the non-contributory social benefits entitlement conditions in Portugal, with particular incidence in the Social Integration Income (RSI). Carried out...

The relationships between bank market concentration and bank efficiency are of particular relevance in the European Union (EU), but they remain controversial. Using a panel Granger causality approach, this paper contributes to the literature, testing not only the causality running from bank...

In most countries, discretionary fiscal policy has often been pro-cyclical: instead of dampening the business cycle, actual discretionary policy has mostly magnified it. This paper proposes a mechanism that allows discretionary fiscal policy to be counter-cyclical. This involves the creation of...

We assess the fiscal-growth nexus with a large country panel, accounting for the usually encountered econometric pitfalls. Our results show that revenues have no significant impact on growth whereas expenditures have negative effects. The same is true for the OECD with the addition that...

This paper contributes to further understanding the economic performance of Portuguese and Spanish regions, using a stochastic network approach. The empirical analysis is made at the territorial level of NUT 3 regions and covers the period 1995-2008. The performance of regions is based on GDP...

Legal simplification may improve the quality of institutions in industrialised countries that developed over-complex legal systems. In theory, this type of regulatory reform promotes economic efficiency, leading to higher levels of productivity and output. In this paper we use a Panel...

Child poverty is a problem firmly recognized in the industrialized world. In the EU nearly one in every five children was poor in 2008 (for the population as a whole the risk of poverty was around 17 per cent). The dimension of the problem and its consequences point out for the importance of...

This study examines the evolution of Portuguese exports to Spain and its determinants in the period 2004-2008, based on a sample of the 97 largest exporters to Spain. The econometric study, using panel data and a static and dynamic analysis, considers as theoretically relevant explanatory...