This article studies the impact of oil shocks on the macroeconomy in two ways insofar unexploited in the literature. The analysis is conducted at the global level, and it explicitly accounts for the potentially changing nature of oil shocks. Constructing an original world GDP series and grouping...

We study whether the adoption of inflation targeting (IT) has constituted a regime switch in Sweden using a Markov-Switching VAR technique. We assess, based on two different specifications, the relative preference for inflation in the monetary reaction function and the capacity of IT to reduce...

Whereas existing literature on inflation targeting has up to now focused on its impact on macroeconomic variables, this paper aims at investigating empirically whether the adoption of this framework has changed the preferences of the central banker. Using Markov-Switching VAR and Time Varying...

Empirical evidence on inflation targeting (IT) outcomes has been mixed so far, mainly because most of the assessments have been based on a control group methodology in a period where differences between IT and non-IT countries were insignificant. In this paper, we study IT impact over time and...

This paper describes recent trends on the efficiency of stabilisers in the European Union. Using both macro evidence on the cyclical sensitivity of budget deficit to economic activity, and micro evidence on the tax and expenditure profiles, we conclude, in agreement with the recent literature,...

Stability-oriented European institutions correspond to the general prescriptions of the 'new macroeconomics consensus'. This contribution provides an assessment of the pros and cons of these institutions in terms of macro stabilisation and exchange-rate swings drawing on different scenarios. We...

This paper addresses the issue of whether and by how much public investment or public capital can enhance economic performance. In comparison with the literature on the subject, we apply many different methodologies to answer these questions. A VAR model (for France, Italy, Germany, the UK and...

The paper provides an explanation to the adoption of balanced-budget rules by politicians, instead of golden rules. In a model that includes voters' preferences that are skewed by the history of the budget structure, and fiscal rules on the budget, we show that incumbents favor a distorted...

This paper assesses the transmission of ECB monetary policies, conventional and unconventional, to both interest rates and lending volumes for the money market, sovereign bonds at 6-month, 5-year and 10-year horizons, loans inferior and superior to 1M€ to non-financial corporations, cash and...

This paper aims at investigating first the (possibly time-varying) empirical relationship between price and financial stability, and second, the effects of some macro and policy variables on this relationship in the United States and the Eurozone. Three empirical methods are used to examine the...