It is often the case that the key stumbling block for policy formation is limited knowledge of the way the macroeconomy works. Along with the introduction of a common currency, the interest and need for business cycle analysis at the Euro area level has increased. For this reason, at the...

This paper examines the effects of monetary policy shocks on output in the three largest euro area economies - Germany, France and Italy (EMU3) - by applying a new VAR identification procedure. The results show that monetary policy innovations are at their most potent in Germany. However, apart...

Following Kydland and Prescott's (1982) seminal paper, a key question that has been debated widely remains, `Are business cycles mainly the result of permanent shocks to productivity?' This paper attempts to answer this question in the context of the Euro area economy as a whole, given current...

Economic fluctuations in most of the industrialised world have for over the past 30 years been characterised by declining volatility. This decline has also been a trait witnessed for output fluctuations in the Euro Area. This paper has two objectives. The first is to provide a comprehensive...

A high degree of shared national elements that drive the bulk of observed output volatility between countries is generally seen as a necessary prerequisite for the formation of a successful monetary union. This is because countries in a monetary union accept a one-size-fits all, resigning...

This paper compares the role of macroeconomic and sector-specific factors in price movements for China and India, taking into account the features unique to developing economies. We find that fluctuations in the aggregated prices in China are more persistent than the underlying disaggregated...