The recent boom-and-bust cycle in housing prices has refreshed the debate on the drivers of housing cycles as well as the appropriate policy response. We analyze the case of Spain, where housing prices have soared since it joined the EMU. We present evidence based on a VAR model, and we...

Among the various explanations for the run-up in oil prices that occurred through mid-2008, one story focuses on the role of monetary policy in the United States and in developing economies. In this view, developing countries that peg their currencies to the dollar were forced to ease their...

Zimbabwe faces growth and external competitiveness challenges, as indicated by its low trend growth and investment, declining share in the world exports, high current account deficits, and external debt. The stock-flow approach to the equilibrium exchange rate reveals that the real exchange rate...

This theoretical contribution shows a simple way in which the quantity equation can be derived as a long-term equilibrium solution for the case of a closed economy and an open economy, respectively. It is shown first for the case of a closed economy which parameters stand behind "velocity" and...

From 1960 to 2009, the U.S. current account balance has tended to decline during expansions and improve in recessions. We argue that shocks to the trend growth rate of productivity can help explain the countercyclical U.S. current account. Our framework is a twocountry, twogood business cycle...

In an open-economy faced with model uncertainty, this paper uses distribution forecasts to investigate the impact of alternative inflation targeting policies on macroeconomic volatility and their potential implications on financial stability. Theoretically, Domestic Inflation Targeting (DIT)...

Using PESSOA, a DSGE model for a small euro area economy, we analyze the size of fiscal multipliers associated with a large fiscal consolidation in "normal times" and in "crisis times." The crisis times scenario embodies a temporary increase in nominal rigidities and in financial frictions,...

Global imbalances and financial market (de)regulation both feature prominently among the potential causes of the global financial crisis, but they have been generally discussed separately. In this paper, we take a different angle and investigate the relationship between financial market...

We estimate a two-country open economy version of the New Keynesian DSGE model for the U.S. and the Euro area, using Bayesian techniques that allow for both determinacy and indeterminacy of the equilibrium. Our empirical analysis shows that the worldwide equilibrium is indeterminate due to a...

In this paper, we empirically investigate the Mundell-Fleming theoretical concept of an “impossible trinity” (trilemma) for Turkey, following the Aizenman, Chinn and Ito approach. However, we also introduce alternative empirical techniques in order to deal with possible misspecification...