The P-star approach has been developed by the U.S. Federal Reserve as a new indicator of inflationary pressures. This paper assesses its usefulness for 20 OECD Member countries. Regression results are presented and in-sample tracking ability and forecasting performance of the equations are...

This paper is one of four in this Working Paper Series, focusing on financial liberalisation, along with those of Miller and Weller, Kupiec and Blundell-Wignall and Browne. Its main purpose is to evaluate the imperfections still affecting deregulated credit markets. In particular, the paper...

A recent study by David Aschauer suggested a novel explanation for the slowdown of private-sector total factor productivity (TFP) in the United States in the early 1970s. He argues that it is due to the roughly contemporaneous slowdown in the rate of investment in public-sector infrastructure....

The rapid increase -- over the next thirty years -- in the population share of persons above retirement age has led to a steady increase in attention paid by OECD Governments to questions concerning old age income maintenance. The attached paper looks at the proper role the Government can play...

This paper examines the role of structural indicators in the process of multilateral surveillance of structural policies. An analytical framework is suggested that is based on welfare economics and which focuses on efficiency considerations. Potential indicators are examined for six areas --...

The paper examines evidence concerning the impact of financial liberalisation and innovation on monetary policy. The indicator value of monetary aggregates and the role of liquidity constraints in the transmission mechanism affecting aggregate demand are examined. Countries where financial...

Subsidisation of industrial activities distorts the allocation of scarce resources, is a burden on government finances and generates friction in international trade. This paper draws on a wide range of data sources to examine industrial subsidisation in OECD countries. The sectoral distribution...

This paper is one of three in this Working Paper Series, along with those by Chouraqui et al. and Blanchard, in which the assessment of fiscal policy is reconsidered. It reviews the question of what type of budget indicators the OECD should compile. Instead of the cyclically-adjusted budget, it...

Concerns over the pace, scope and causes of environmental degradation have led to a renewed interest in the way environmental and economic policies interact. This paper first reviews the main causes for excessive use of environmental resources in a market economy, and how governments may conduct...

This paper surveys Japanese saving behaviour, whose rate is one of the highest among OECD countries. Macroeconomic factors such as rates of economic growth and inflation may have been important in explaining the high saving rate in the past and the more recent downward trend. Even though growth...