The paper investigates the link between monetary policy and structural reforms in open economies. We test three hypotheses: (a) the Calmfors hypothesis that the degree of reforms is higher in the case of autonomous policy and lower in the case of commitment, (b) the TINA hypothesis which implies...

In the literature on currency and banking crises it has become the standard procedure to distinguish pure currency crises, pure banking crises and combined (“twin”) currency and banking crises. We show theoretically and empirically that a similar differentiation should be chosen with regard...

The article explores whether Germany's position as the world's leading exporter is something special. We apply a standard gravity model estimating bilateral export flows of 184 countries and find that Germany's exports are positively affected by time-invariant factors, like its geographical...

The issue of the backward-looking versus the forward-looking Phillips curve is still an open question in the macroeconomics profession. We identify the real output effects of monetary policy shocks as a crucial implication of the traditional Phillips curve. The backward-looking Phillips curve...

This paper examines the contemporaneous relationship between the exchange rate regime and structural economic reforms over a period of 30 years. We investigate empirically whether structural reforms are complements or substitutes for monetary commitment in the attempt to improve macroeconomic...

World trade has grown exponentially during the last 60 years. Admittedly, it is not clear if this development can be assigned to international trade agreements like the World Trade Organization or the Generalized System of Preferences as previous empirical studies found contradicting results. In...