This paper reviews the projections of the Economic Policy Committee and the European Commission on age-related expenditure carried out in 2005. It takes a closer look at the results of public pension expenditure projections with a view of analysing the timing of projected changes and the driving...

This study models the opportunities and incentives generated by international tax differences for international profit shifting by multinationals. Unlike previous studies, consideration is made not only of profit shifting arising from international tax differences between affiliates and parent...

This report was produced by the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC) and was discussed and endorsed by EU Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors at the Informal ECOFIN meeting on 21st April 2001 in Malmö. It outlines the various issues involved in financial crisis management in the EU,...

The Swedish referendum in September 2003 on adopting the euro or keeping the domestic currency, the krona, represents a unique event to examine the public's perceptions of the benefits and costs of monetary unification. The voters chose between the two polar cases of exchange rate regimes:...

This paper investigates the accession-related economic boom in the countries which recently entered the European Union. The analysis tests whether, on top of the standard growth determinants, the period of EU accession made a significant difference to the growth performance of the New Member...

This paper examines the relevance of financial market characteristics for explaining the catching-up process in Europe and Asia. Global financial integration has been associated with divergent patterns of real convergence and the current account in emerging markets. While countries in emerging...

In 1968 Friedman put forward the notion of a “natural†rate of unemployment to encapsulate the idea that a “normal†level of unemployment, roughly equivalent to the amount of frictional and structural unemployment, persists even when the labour market is in equilibrium. Since...

Despite progress in implementing the internal market programme and the introduction of the euro, the EU still does not have a fully integrated financial market. Much has been achieved on the road towards integration, but there is more work still to do. The European Council at Lisbon set the key...

This paper examines how international depositors respond to national deposit insurance policies. Countries with explicit deposit insurance are found to be relatively attractive to international non-bank depositors. Deposit schemes characterized by co-insurance, a private administration, and a...

Cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have increased dramatically over the last two decades. This paper analyses the role of trade costs in explaining the increase in both the number and the value of cross-border mergers and acquisitions. In particular, we distinguish horizontal and...