This paper uses a semi-structural vector autoregression approach to estimate the relative importance of domestic and foreign shocks as sources of macroeconomic fluctuations in Hong Kong since the adoption of the currency board. We find that external factors are clearly dominant in the medium- to...

This paper extends the new hybrid Keynesian Phillips curve (NKPC) to the open economy context. We hypothesise that pricing decisions depend on both labour costs and intermediate imported input prices. The results for Hong Kong are consistent with the theory if import prices are given substantial...

This paper studies the welfare implications of temporary foreign aid in the context of a simple two-country model of trade. In addition to its usual effects, a transfer of income in one period is assumed to influence the preferences of the recipient country in the following period. The implied...

This paper tests the central predictions of the theoretical tax competition literature for capital tax rates for a panel of European Union countries, notably a race to the bottom in capital tax rates. One measure of capital mobility is found to exhibit a downward pressure on capital taxes while...

Inflation targeting is a statement about the objective of central bank policy and not about operating procedures. Its success depends not only on the actions of the central bank, but requires a broad consensus concerning the proper role of monetary policy in the economy. It also requires the...

This paper describes a mechanism by which the government manages to hold the appointed monetary authorities accountable for their policies. Asymmetric information about central bank's preferences proxies the "democratic deficit", evoked to justify the call for accountability. Three main results...

This paper looks at five different ways in which the effect of fiscal policy on aggregate demand in the short term can be empirically estimated, and asks two questions: First, given the assumption that fiscal policy has the same effect across countries, which of the five indicators is the...

Knowledge spillovers and technical externalities play a fundamental role in basically all endogenous growth models. In a context of increasing returns to scale and transportation costs it seems reasonable to assume that regional agglomeration of production and R&D activities is linked to...

This paper gathers evidence on apparent discrepancies between EU decisions and stock market's anticipations of the anti-competitive consequences of particular mergers. We consider a sample of about 100 mergers, which include all phase II cases, and explore some of the factors that may account...

The paper reviews the theoretical literature on capital tax competition relevant for capital taxation in the European Union. The basic tax competition model a la Zodrow and Mierzkowski (1986) is presented, and the arguments of the literature are subsequently integrated into the framework of the...