The effect of mortality reductions on fertility is one of the main mech- anisms stressed by the recent growth literature in order to explain demo- graphic transitions. We analyze the empirical relevance of this mechanism based on the experience of all countries since 1960. We distinguish be-...

This paper examines the causal relationship between euro and sterling swap spreads during the period January, 1999 to March, 2003. The absence of any correlation between changes in the two swap spreads would indicate that credit risk factors are country-specific. But euro swap spreads showed...

and classifies a country’s regions into three types according to population density criteria. The regions within a country are typified as; core, adjacent, and periphery. The benefit of this classification is twofold. One, it provides a simple three-region economic geography model consisting...

In this paper we study the link between elections, fiscal policy and economic growth/fluctuations. The set-up is a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model of growth and endogenously chosen fiscal policy, in which two political parties can alternate in power. The party in office chooses...

Following from Woodford’s derivation of a benevolent monetary policy maker’s objective function from agents utility, a number of papers have suggested that policy in an open economy should have the same objectives as in a closed economy, and in particular that the exchange rate should play...

In this paper we consider the impact of exchange rate volatility on the volume of bilateral US trade (both exports and imports) using sectoral data. Amongst the novelties in our approach are the use of sectoral industrial price indices, rather than an aggregate price index, and the construction...

If economic agents coordinate on social norms more oriented towards the protection of national industries, an asymmetric international specialization in the research and development (R&D) arises even in a tariff free world with no a priori differences across countries in endowments, demography...

We provide empirical evidence from a number of European countries, which shows that unemployment and output are positively related when unemployment is low and inversely related when unemployment is high. We then construct a stylised macro-model with goods and labour market imperfections to show...