Current discussions on Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in Europe have stressed the need for enhanced integration of goods and factor markets as a pre condition of moving as costlessly as possible to a single currency system. The real interest differential - and hence tests of real interest...

This paper analyses the impact of rapid technological change in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector on economic growth. Technological change in the ICT sector leads to a fall in the relative price of ICT goods, which leads firms to invest more heavily in high-tech goods....

In this paper a general equilibrium model of an economy with incomplete markets (GEI) with money and default is examined. The model is a simplified version of the real world consisting of a non-bank private sector, banks, a central bank, a government and a regulator. It is used to analyse...

This paper argues that the 'fiscal theory of the price level' (FTPL) is fallacious. The source of the fallacy is an elementary economic misspecification. The FTPL denies a fundamental property of any model of a market economy, that the budget constraint of any agent, private or public, must be...

This paper describes the break-up of the rouble zone after the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991 and the opportunities and risks involved in establishing separate currencies in the new republics of the FSU. Fundamental disagreements about the desirable pace of economic reform,...

A simple two-period, two-bank model of an RTGS system with collateralised intraday credit is presented. It is shown that two types of outcome are possible - inefficient or efficient - depending on whether banks care about payments imbalances between them in the first period. If they do, banks...

This paper examines the methodology of cyclical adjustment of fiscal balances. The crucial assumption underlying any estimates of the cyclically-adjusted balance (CAB) is found to be the measure of the output gap. Estimates for the UK are presented, suggesting that when the economy returns to...

This paper examines the interest rate setting behaviour of building societies since the breakdown of the interest rate cartel in 1984. Societies have faced increasing competition in the mortgage and savings market over this period, against a backdrop of radical regulatory change. The paper...

Using panel regression analysis, the factors that may help to explain increases in loan-loss provisions for the major UK banks are investigated. Explanatory variables reviewed include aggregate variables such as GDP growth as well as bank-specific factors such as the composition of the loan...

A large theoretical literature exists that suggests that differences in growth performance may be related to variations in the extent of international openness. This paper is concerned with quantifying measures of openness and examining their association with productivity growth across 19...