We apply Bayesian Model Averaging procedures to a dataset on growth to estimate the output gap caused by the recent financial crisis. The special focus of this work lies in group of variables that may simultaneously cause countries to behave differently during episodes of economic recessions. In...

In parliaments elected by proportional systems the seats are allocated to the political parties roughly proportionally to the shares of votes for the party lists obtained in elections. Assuming that members of the parliament representing the same party are voting together, it has sense to...

Imputed rental income of homeowners is tax exempt in most countries, despite the long-standing arguments recommending its inclusion in the tax base, on both equity and efficiency grounds. While the financial and fiscal crisis revived interest towards this form of taxation, this paper...

The EU 2020 Climate and Energy Package, in force since June 2009, commits the European Union to reduce its overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to at least 20% below their 1990 levels by 2020, pursuing the ambition to make Europe a low-carbon and energy-efficient economy over the next decade....

The Flemish economy is a very open economy and as such heavily relies on trade with both the neighbouring economies as well as more distanced economies and it also tries to attract foreign direct investments. The paper reviews the evolution and interrelation of some competitiveness indicators in...

EU climate policies advocate a shift towards green taxation. We address this issue in the context of tax on companies, focusing on the consequences for the cost of capital, the effective marginal tax rate and the effective average tax rate.We develop an indicator of effective green taxation...

This paper examines the role of electricity production from biomass with and without carbon capture and storage in sustaining low CO 2 emission pathways to 2100. It quantifies the effect of the availability of biomass resources and technologies within a general equilibrium framework. We assess...

GDP and employment effects of climate policyCGEGDP and employment effects of climate policy

About 50% of New Zealand's greenhouse gases are not carbon dioxide, being mostly methane and nitrous oxide. Consequently the exchange rates between different gases - that is their CO2 equivalence - could have significant effects on the cost to New Zealand of meeting international emissions...

The Stern/Nordhaus controversy has polarized the widely disparate beliefs about what to do in order to tackle the climate challenge. Between Nordhaus' ``policy ramp'' which recommends gradual action to avoid costly premature low-carbon investments and Stern's ``early strong emissions cut'', the...