(Reprint from WIFO-Monatsberichte, Vol. 83, No. 5, May 2010) Zusammenfassung Die Wirtschaft dürfte sich in den mittel- und osteuropäischen Ländern (MOEL) beleben, allerdings länderweise in unterschiedlichem Ausmaß. Zwischen September 2008 und März 2009 hatte sie teilweise einen schweren...

GERMAN: Die im August 2007 ausgebrochene Finanzkrise erfüllt alle Kriterien einer systemischen Bankenkrise. Zahlungsschwierigkeiten häufen sich, die Kapitalisierung von Banken sinkt und Aktienkurse fallen, während die realen Zinssätze steigen. Ausschlaggebend für diese Entwicklungen ist der...

We show that the welfare costs of business cycles in a monetary union can be higher under incomplete financial markets than under complete markets. A monetary union with home bias, sticky prices and country-specific shocks is a second-best environment in which the structure of financial markets...

Recovery has begun in the United States and global economies. The US recovery is likely to be anemic by historical standards, raising the possibility that additional stimulus may be desirable. The President and Democrats in Congress have called for a “jobs bill,†and the Federal...

What kind of additional co-operation (-ordination) is necessary and feasible to cope with the new institutional set-up under EMU? Starting from the episode of the repo rate cut by the ECB in early 1999, it is asked what would have happened under a business as usual scenario. In this case, the...

We show that welfare can be lower under complete financial markets than under autarky in a monetary union with home bias, sticky prices and asymmetric shocks. Such a monetary union is a second-best environment in which the structure of financial markets affects risk-sharing but also shapes the...

This paper assesses the relevance of the exchange rate regime for stabilization policy. This regime question cannot be dealt with independently of other institutions, in particular how fiscal policy is designed. We show that once fiscal policy is taken into account, the exchange rate regime is...

The main issue in the early years of EMU is one of credibility. On one hand, high exposure to asymmetric shocks and low adaptability (be it in terms of stabilization or adjustment) to both symmetric and asymmetric shocks make the early years of EMU potentially problematic. On the other hand,...

The need of fiscal consolidation is likely to dominate the policy agenda in the next decade; starting from statistical evidence on the conduct of fiscal policy in the EMU area over the last decade, this paper addresses the optimality of alternative fiscal consolidation strategies. In this paper, we...