This paper provides a comprehensive review of the factors that can cause price levels to diverge and which are at the root of different inflation rates in Europe including the EU-27. Among others, we study the structural and cyclical factors influencing market and non-market-based service, house...

This paper analyses the effectiveness of foreign exchange interventions in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Turkey using the event study approach. Interventions are found to be effective only in the short run when they ease appreciation pressures. Central bank...

This paper analyses the reaction of fiscal policy to the cycle in OECD countries. The results suggest that while overall government balances were counter-cyclical in the past and more so in economic downturns than in upswings, discretionary fiscal policy was neutral on average. However,...

France has seen a marked deterioration in its export performance in the last 10 years or so. Previous empirical research pointed out that weak export performance was due to i) vigorous domestic demand; ii) lower mark-ups due to head-to-head competition with Germany; iii) low non-price...

What changes are needed to make counter-cyclical economic policy more effective in the aftermath of the recent crisis? An important lesson from the severity of the recent recession is that policy in various areas will have to be more prudent during upswings and to build in greater safety margins...

This paper studies recent developments in the construction sector in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) against a number of benchmarks including a set of mature OECD countries. In addition to analyzing the recent rapid increase in the importance of the construction sector in CEE countries, the...

This paper examines the determinants of house price dynamics in Central and Eastern European (CEE) transition economies. While we emphasize the role of conventional fundamental factors, we also highlight the importance of transition-specifi c factors in house price dynamics in the region. We...

This short study builds on earlier work by Égert, Backé and Zumer that analyzes data up to the end of 2004 and presents updated results on the deviations of private sector credit-to-GDP levels from their estimated equilibrium levels in the ten new Central, Eastern and Southeastern European EU...

This Paper sets out to analyse the ever-growing literature on equilibrium exchange rates in the new EU member states of Central and Eastern Europe in a quantitative manner using meta-regression analysis. We study the extent to which the estimated real misalignments reported in the literature...