A well-functioning monetary transmission mechanism is critical for monetary policy. As the Dominican Republic recently adopted an inflation targeting regime, it is even more relevant to guarantee that changes in the monetary policy rates are quickly and fully reflected in retail rates, to...

The large economic costs of full-blown lockdowns in response to COVID-19 outbreaks, coupled with heterogeneous mortality rates across age groups, led to question non-discriminatory containment mea- sures. In this paper we provide an assessment of the targeted approach to containment. We propose...

Overall mobility declined during the COVID-19 pandemic because of government lockdowns and voluntary social distancing. Yet, aggregate data mask important heterogeneous effects across segments of the population. Using unique mobility indicators based on anonymized and aggregate data provided by...

Population aging in advanced economies could have significant macroeconomic implica- tions, unless more individuals choose to participate in labor markets. In this context, the steep increase in the share of older workers who remain economically active since the mid- 1990s is an overlooked yet...

Frankel and Rose (1998) reassessed the Mundellian criteria on OCAs and considered their application to be untenable, since trade integration and cycle synchronisation may be endogenous. This research aims at testing this hypothesis for Mercosur countries. In particular it intends to evaluate...

We study the determinants of new and repeated research collaborations, drawing on the coauthorship network of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s Working Papers series. Being an outlet where authors express their views on topics of interest, and given that IMF staff is not subject to the...

This paper aims at investigating business cycle interdependences among Mercosur countries over the period 1991-2006. In particular, it analyses the causation relationships among the aforementioned countries’ business cycles, and the impact of the EU and US shocks on them. The estimated VAR...

Despite conventional macroeconomic theory is based on the idea that demand shocks can only have temporary effects on unemployment, several European economies display highly persistent unemployment dynamics. The theory of hysteresis challenges this view and points out that, under certain...

Advanced economies are in the midst of a major demographic transition, with the number of elderly rising precipitously relative to the working-age population. Yet, despite the acceleration in demographic shifts in the past decade, advanced economies experienced markedly different trajectories in...

Despite significant headwinds from population aging in most advanced economies (AEs), labor force participation rates show remarkably divergent trajectories both across countries and across different groups of workers. Participation increased sharply among prime-age women and, more recently,...