This paper explores the determinants of workers' remittances using a novel dataset of bilateral remittance flows. The paper finds that some of the variables commonly used in gravity equations are very powerful in explaining remittance flows. The evidence on the motives to remit is mixed, but...

This paper studies the Japanese depression in the interwar period using the business cycle accounting methodology and a general equilibrium model with time-varying markups. I find that the initial slowdown of the economy can be explained by a decline in productivity. However, I also find that...

This paper examines the growth-effects of inflation at alternative stages of financial development. We propose an endogenous growth model where intermediated savings generate capital. Informational problems cause banks to ration credit and hold liquid assets offering (real) returns that vary...

In this paper we estimate a model where inflation, a measure of de facto central bank independence and an index of de facto exchange rate regime are simultaneously determined by a set of economic, political and institutional variables. De facto central bank independence is hampered by...

We investigate the relevance of Carroll's sticky information model of inflation expectations for four major European economies (France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom). In contrast to the most rational expectation models, households in the sticky information environment update their...

This paper focuses on the reallocation of labour resources in a New Keynesian environment with labour market search and endogenous separations. We show that the introduction of variation in hours per worker alters the incentives for intertemporal substitution in a way that generates a more...

We extend the class of quality-ladder growth models (Grossman and Helpman, 1991, Segerstrom, 1998 and others), to encompass an economy with asymmetric fundamentals. In contrast to the standard framework, in our model industries may differ in terms of their innovative potential (quality jumps and...

We carry out a meta-analysis on the frequency of unit-roots in macroeconomic time series with a dataset covering 249 variables for the G7 countries. We use linear tests and the three popular non-linear tests (TAR, ESTAR and Markov Switching). In general, the evidence in favour of the random walk...

In many countries, Employment Protection Legislation (EPL) establishes less strict dismissal procedures for specific groups of workers. This paper builds a simple matching model with heterogeneous workers in order to analyze this feature of EPL. We use the model to analyze the effects of reforms...

This paper explores the relationship between environmental protection and international capital movements, when tax policy is endogenous (through voting). A two-period general equilibrium model of a small open economy is specified to compare the effects of two different constitutions (commitment...