Several studies have documented the weak response of regional wages differentials and labour mobility following region-specific ("idiosyncratic") 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 opposed...

The recent growth of regional integration agreements (customs unions and free-trade areas) has been accompanied by a mounting concern for the health of the multilateral trading system. Much of this concern stems from the generally accepted view that the current WTO rules do not provide an...

The importance of wages to the short and long-run economic performace of countries needs little emphasis in the context of the present analysis. The main purpose of the analysis is therefore to assess whether the Community's labour markets have been performing well, in an international...

This paper argues that the Commission forecasts dispose of a resaonable track record. Most of the traditional test for examining the quality of predictions are passed in a satisfactory way. The comparisons with forecasts made by the IMF, OECD and national forecast institutes are not unfavourable...

This paper is divided into 4 sections. 1) Deals with measurement issues and provides an overview of both the main statistical trend estimation methods as well as the more economically respectable production function approach. 2) Gives a detailed presentation of the potential output and output...

The paper examines the effects of ageing and makes a case for partial pre-funding of pensions. The argument is based on inter-generational fairness in a situation where pension expenditure as compared to wages increases due to low fertility and increasing longevity. we illustrate the approach by...

This paper shows that, where the relative levels and general evolution of labour, capital and consumption tax rates are concerned, the conclusions drawn on the basis of ECFIN's rates are robust with respect to alternative definitions used by the OECD and by 'Structures of the Taxation Systems in...