A central puzzle in international finance is that real exchange rates are volatile and, in stark contradiction to effcient risk-sharing, negatively correlated with cross-country consumption ratios. This paper shows that incomplete asset markets and a low price elasticity of tradables can account...

The paper extends the standard intertemporal model of the current account to include two important stylised facts: (1) the persistence of current account positions and (2) the relevance of the fiscal balance. Specifically, the paper derives a closed form solution for consumption in the presence...

We live in a service economy, but the extent of development of service employment differs across developed countries. This paper assesses the role of structural factors and institutions in explaining the common patterns and main differences in the recent expansion of service employment in OECD...

Lífskjör á Íslandi eru góð, með þeim bestu meðal OECD-ríkja, og ójöfnuður lítill í alþjóðlegum samanburði. Fátækt mælist einnig lítil í slíkum samanburði. Hagkerfið hefur náð sér eftir áfallið árið 2008 og helstu hagstærðir hafa aldrei verið jafn hagstæðar...