The processes that will drive the next stage of the Czech transition are likely to be similar to those promoting real convergence in the Eu cohesion countries. We draw on previous modelling research on the cohesion economies to construct and calibrate a small macrosectoral model of the Czech...

The paper offers a simple test of spatial integration in food markets during famines. It applies the test to two data sets; one for India between the 1860s and the 1910s, the other for Ireland during the Great Famine of the 1840s.

De Grauwe follows McKinnon in arguing that "for a very open economy the exchange rate is a particularly ineffective instrument." Since most countries are becoming more open this suggests that the exchange rate instrument is declining in importance. We identify a set of circumstances under which...

The records of a New York savings bank founded by Irish immigrants in 1850are used to shed light o immigrant savings patterns and the early history of savings banks. The analysis of the occupations and adresses of individual account holders reveals a very broad cross-section of the New York...

In this paper we look at one aspect of the growth trade relations as between the EU and the CEEC states, which reflects the pattern of trade. We argue that there is some evidence to support the proposition that a facet of this development reflects the different regulatory regimes in eastern...

This paper explores the links between international trade theory and the practice of trade and industrial policy in open economies, with special attention to three areas where theorical lessons have been misunderstood in policy debates. I argue that the "concertina rule" for tariff reform...

Traditionally, Economists tought of high unemployment as a cyclical phenomenon; unemployment would eventually moderate wage demands and thereby open up new employment opportunities. Hysterisis suggests however that workers who become long term unemployed find it extremely difficult, if not...

This paper estimates a simple model of exchange rate policy where the Central Bank optimises an objective function which takes into account competitiveness, its commitment to the EMU and the cost of adjustment. We allow for asymmetry in government behaviour whereby a key paremeter, the marginal...

This paper studies the impact of economic and monetary union on the cohesion process, and specifically on the four cohesion countries - Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland. Trade integration, or economic union, is judged likely to promote cohesion. Monetary union has more ambiguous effects. The...