The paper investigates one aspect of the external trade impact of the 1992 `Internal Market' programme, that is, VERs on third countries. The paper rejects the frequently-made claim that the proposed abolition in 1992 of Article 115 of the Treaty of Rome (which prevents free intra-EC circulation...

It is often suggested that "European economic and monetary integration is important because people think it is". This paper is an exploratory attempt to formalize this idea. As the basis for our investigation, we rely on recent analysis by Krugman (1989) and Matsuyama (1989), which addresses the...

In this paper we present empirical evidence of the importance of aggregation bias in Euler equations for consumption. The main result is that estimates of the elasticity of intertemporal substitution for consumption are consistently lower for aggregate data than for average cohort data. In...

This paper studies whether the dynamic behaviour of GNP growth, unemployment and inflation is systematically affected by the timing of elections and changes of government. The sample includes the last three decades in 18 OECD economies. We test explicitly the implications of several models of...

The paper examines the integration strategy laid down in the Delors Committee Report. It focuses on two issues: Is a comprehensive conceptual framework for monetary coordination in Europe needed already in Stage One, and how could it be designed? What is the rationale for a training period for...

The paper develops a numerical simulation model to assess the possible consequences of competition on inter-Scandinavian air routes, using the Oslo-Stockholm route as a case. In the model, demand for air transportation depends on the price and frequency, reflecting consumer preferences for...

When a firm makes an initial public offering (IPO) of its equity, the accuracy with which its shares are priced will be an important factor determining the cost of "going public". This paper compares the accuracy of IPO pricing in the United States, United Kingdom and Japan over the period...

This paper shows that virtually all of the rapid worsening of the US trade deficit since 1982 can be attributed to the balance on durable goods. Moreover, this deterioration has been concentrated in capital goods rather than consumer durables intertemporal prices play a key role in the...

The effect of asymmetric information on monetary policy is investigated in the context of an overlapping wage contract model. Optimal rules with and without precommitment under full information are compared with the optimal rule without precommitment (i.e. the discretionary rule) under...

The purpose of this paper is to establish some stylized facts on gross labor market flows - using mostly new data from France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States - which any theory of unemployment ought to explain. The regularities on gross labor market flows that we isolate are...