Why is moving from moderate to low inflation almost always slow or costly? This paper answers this question, based on the Polish experience. First, reflecting the transition to a market economy, Polish inflation has been marked by significant changes in relative prices. Second, as wage and price...

This note assesses the relative efficiency of different tax bases in an open economy. If terms of trade effects are large, lump-sum taxation may be inferior to distortionary consumption or wage taxes. This result is demonstrated analytically using a simple neoclassical model. An overlapping...

The transition to a market economy has been analyzed primarily from a stabilization prospective. To complement that approach, we focus on a pure relative price shock and subsequent price adjustments. A model of monopolistic competition with costly labor adjustment indicates that relative price...