This study addresses and evaluates the impacts of the introduction of the euro on both actual and potential output and employment. In order to achieve this, a descriptive and analytical examination of developments before and after the launch of the euro is undertaken, with comparisons drawn...

Several studies have documented the weak response of regional wage differentials and labour mobility following region-specific (“idiosyncraticâ€) shocks in the average of the EU countries. This has been often taken as evidence of the rigidity of labour markets in European countries, as...

The introduction of the euro as a currency in physical existence in January 2002 was a major step in the European integration process. The purpose of this paper is to explore how a representative selection of 12 000 Europeans across all countries in the euro area view the effects of the euro...

The paper examines pension reforms under ageing. With stylised facts, ageing is traced to low fertility and increasing longevity. Given these persistent factors, pension systems must be reformed to avoid an unfair burden being left for future generations. The main results for reform blueprints...

While in the Commission Forecasts interest rates, exchange rates or oil prices are treated more like assumptions, it is interesting to test their realism. It appears that these variables are formulated in a reasonably accurate way and that in general alternative assumptions would not improve the...

European integration is likely to affect labour market performance through various routes. One important channel is the effects product market integration has on labour markets. This paper reviews how product market integration may strengthen labour market interdependencies between integrating...

(Papers presented at the 4th Annual Research Conference, 11-12 October 2007) This volume contains nine papers presented at the 4th DG ECFIN Annual Research Conference held in October, 2007 in Brussels on the theme: Growth and income distribution in an integrated Europe: Does EMU make a...

The paper analyses different aspects of the role that the euro is currently playing in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and in the CFA franc zone of West and Central Africa. As similar contributions on the role of the euro in other global regions, it served as background information for the analysis of...

Study on sovereign bond market integration and the role of the euro, trading platforms and globalisation. We disentangle different driving factors of sovereign bond market integration by studying yield co-movements of EMU countries, the UK, the US and 16 German Lander in the last 15 years. At a...