We elaborate on the business cycle accounting method proposed by Chari et al. (2006) , clear up some misconceptions about the method, and then apply it to compare the Great Recession across OECD countries as well as to the recessions of the 1980s in these countries. We have four main findings....

This study examines the causes of the countercyclicality of the trade balance in the three major sectors of the U.S. economy: services, manufacturing, and agriculture. These results are compared with the results pertinent to the U.S. economy as a whole. At the macroscopic level, Sachs’...

The paper studies the functioning of the monetary transmission mechanism in the EU. It analyses the influence of an increase in short-term interest rate on real and monetary variable e.g. industrial production of the EU members, retail prices, monetary mass and real exchange rate. Frequently...