The French tax system is characterized by the coexistence of a progressive, family-based, complex and declarative Income Tax that only concerns half of the households, and a proportional tax, the CSG, collected on a pay-as-you-earn basis. A merge would simplify tax determination and collection...

This paper studies the feasibility of a monetary union in Mercosur. A semi-structural VAR model is estimated for each country, including a set of international and domestic variables. The structural innovations generated by each country model are broken down into unobservable common and...

Following the decrease in oil prices, inflation went back under 2% in the euro area. But the ECB still considers that risks lie on the upside. The tightening of monetary policy has come close to an end since a last interest increase is scheduled in June 2007. The Federal reserve faced a dilemma...

In the context of a still high unemployment rate, the recurring debate around the Social security deficits calls for an enlargement of the way growing needs could be financed. A solution that has recently been contemplated would lie in the introduction of a new contribution on the value-added...

We investigate whether the form of exit is triggered by the form of entry and technical expertise, an exercise which has been persistently missing in the literature, for a sample of 121 firms in the LAN switch industry. We find that pre-entry experience, technical expertise, and intangible...

After an exceptionally long period of growth on the housing market, the activity has turned over from the beginning of 2006. It seems deeply engaged in a severe adjustment but we suppose this will not lead the economy in a global recession. After a presentation of the past trends (activity,...

This paper analyses mergers between gas and electricity activities, a "conglomerate relationship" in the Commission lingo. We first review the paradigmatic case of the recent failed takeover on Endesa by Gas Natural in Spain. Then, we detail a model of imperfect competition combining four...