The following analysis presents conditions for characterizing unsustainable public borrowing. These conditions describe a “critical level” of public debt beyond which increases in taxes (current or future) are required to meet debt service obligations. The discussion is written for a general...

We prove the existence of monetary equilibrium in a finite horizon economy with production. We also show that if agents expect the monetary authority to significantly decrease the supply of bank money available for short term loans in the future, then the economy will fall into a liquidity trap...

In the last decade the issue of the optimal degree of central bank independence has been at the center of attention of academics and policymakers in many countries. The direction of institutional reform has almost universally been toward making central banks more independent from political...

This paper estimates an import demand function for the euro area vis-a-vis its main extra-area trading partners which takes into account the possible impact of both intra and extra-euro area exchange rate uncertainty.

Central banks have responded with exceptional vigour to the crisis by using their traditional interest-rate tools to their limits and deploying a wide range of unconventional measures. This paper documents these responses in a systematic way, reviews the evidence about their impact, and...

The Federal Reserve System or the Fed is one of the most prestigious institutions in the world. Founded by the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, the Fed has the responsibility of setting the monetary policy of the U.S. The Fed’s actions affect the money supply in the U.S. market which has a direct...

In order to analyze current state of events in the world economy, parallel analysis with the country that has gone through boom cycle in real estate and financial asset prices (as US did during the last decade) and sudden consequential bust in mid 70s and late 80s (USA 2007), namely Japan, is...

Even if shortening the maturity of government debt does not put downward pressure on government bond yields, debt management may still become an important policy tool to serve quantity or fiscal objectives at very low interest rates. The US example in the 1930s and the recent Japanese case...

The author of this article draws special attention to two particular claims of the free bankers concerning the supposed working characteristics of a fractional-reserve free banking system which may strike the reader as questionable. The first of these relates to the alleged absence of a...

The author of this article draws special attention to two particular claims of the free bankers concerning the supposed working characteristics of a fractional-reserve free banking system which may strike the reader as questionable. The first of these relates to the alleged absence of a...