The tests carried out by Blanchard and Leigh (2013; IMF, 2012) and Fátas and Summers (2018) are extended here into a panel framework in order to assess the empirical basis of the so-called IMF "mea culpa" regarding the underestimation of Keynesian multipliers during the euro area crisis. The...

This paper discusses the conventional view that the main cause of the current crisis is the accommodative monetary policy followed by Greenspan’s Fed in the early 2000s. It assesses the merits and the drawbacks of this view by looking at the close relationship between the role of monetary...

The present paper investigates 28 episodes of transition from a fixed to a relatively more flexible exchange rate regime, taking place together with a depreciation of the national currency by more than 25% with respect to the US dollar, in the time period between 1980 and 2013. On average, the...

The crisis in the European Monetary Union cannot be attributed simply to the growth of government deficits in its member countries. Current account imbalances between eurozone members and the resulting accumulation of external private and public credit and debt appear to be further causes of...

One of the more debated interpretations of the economic crisis that started in 2007–08 is based on the 'Taylor rule' equation, namely the idea that over the period 2002–05 the Fed has implemented a low-interest policy that has led to the housing bubble and finally to the 'Great Recession'....