The 2003 refirm of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) under Commissioner Fischler was the most radical in the history of the CAP. This paper analyzes the causes and constraints of the refirm. The paper argues that an unusual combination of pro-refirm factors came together in...

This article analyses how credit market imperfections affect the impacts of subsidies by analyzing the effects of agricultural subsidies in the new Eastern Member States of the European Union with a partial equilibrium model which integrates credit and land market imperfections. We show that...

In this paper we revise the empirical tests of the Ricardian model by testing properly the Ricardian hypotheses on bilateral trade flows. Our tests are based on NACE 2-digit industry aggregation of productivity and of bilateral trade flows between 21 EU member states for the period 1994-2004. We...

Assuming the eventual adoption of the Euro, the paper reviews the run-up and the medium run issues on the path towards the Euro. It shows that various policy options are possible, especially with respect to the exchange rate regime and management. It also shows the limits of monetary policy when...

Recently, the European Commission has proposed to introduce a new mi- gration policy instrument - Blue Cards - to attract highly skilled workers from abroad by lifting labour market restrictions, offering financial and housing ben- efits. The excludability character of human capital suggests...

Corporate tax rates in Europe have been falling rapidly; as a consequence tax competition within the EU is fiercer than in the rest of the OECD. This paper analyzes heterogeneity in corporate tax rate changes between EU-15 countries as a function of the proximity to the EU-10 new member states....

The recent changes in the national accounts unequivocally imply that the nature of the measured growth rate and business cycle has changed. This note investigates to what extent.

This paper investigates whether European electricity market refirms have induced any changes infirm efficiency either through productive, allocative or dynamic efficiency improve- ments. In particular, this ex-post analysis looks closely at productivity e ects of changing industry structure,...