This paper evaluates the impact of new releases of financial, real activity and survey data on the nowcasting of euro area GDP growth. We show that financial data are only essential for improving nowcasting in the first two months of a nowcast quarter. This contrasts with survey and real data,...

This paper presents a quantitative model-based assessment of the potential impact of structural reforms in the EU Member States. By comparing structural indicators of labour and product markets, a gap is defined for each indicator relative to the 3 best performers. Scenarios are then simulated...

This paper assesses the role of labour mobility in the EU as an adjustment mechanism. It presents stylised facts on mobility and migration at national and sub-national level, analyses the determinants of mobility flows by means of gravity equations, and studies the dynamic response of mobility...

Summary for non-specialistsThis paper looks at capital flows to the new EU Member States from Central and Eastern Europe (NMS10) during the last decade. Firstly, it analyses the role of various types of foreign capital flows – direct investment, portfolio investment, financial derivatives...

We study the joint dynamics of foreign capital flows and real activity during the recent boom-bust cycle of the Spanish economy, using a three-country New Keynesian model with credit-constrained households and firms, a construction sector and a government. We estimate the model using...

Delays in payments in Business to Business (B2B) and Government to Business (G2B) transactions generally have an adverse effect on the cash-flow of firm and can cause firms, particularly small ones, to seek extensions of their overdraft facilities and increase their borrowing. Late payment of...

Against the background of recovering growth and remaining fiscal consolidation needs, reforming tax expenditures may offer a promising avenue to raise revenue and, at the same time, improve efficiency of the tax systems. The workshop, held by DG ECFIN on 23 October 2013, addressed the economic...

The paper sheds light on developments in labour market matching in the EU after the crisis. First, it analyses the main features of the Beveridge curve and frictional unemployment in EU countries, with a view to isolate temporary changes in the vacancy-unemployment relationship from structural...

This paper analyses the determinants and impact of labour market reforms in the European Union over the period of 2000-2011. The source of information on reforms is the LABREF database developed in DG ECFIN of the European Commission in cooperation with the Economic Policy Committee of the...

This paper introduces a simple rule for appraising the economic soundness of fiscal policies. It connects fiscal policy to a long-run debt objective, taken as an anchor, while arbitraging symmetrically between this debt objective and output stabilisation. The rule offers a benchmark to assess...