What are the drivers of business cycle fluctuations? And how many are there? By documenting strong and predictable co-movement of real variables during the business cycle in a sample of advanced economies, we argue that most business cycle fluctuations a re d riven b y o ne major factor. The...

There is an increasing emphasis on evaluation of impacts of EU Cohesion Policy, using new tools, such as methods of Counterfactual Impact Evaluation. These methods have not been so-far extensively used in the evaluation of the Structural Funds interventions. Thus, it is quite new for a number of...

This paper investigates the link between sovereign ratings and macroeconomic fundamentals for a group of euro area countries which recorded rating downgrades amid the euro area sovereign debt crisis. We apply an elaborated econometric estimation technique, based on a Bayesian ordered probit...

This paper revisits the empirical relationship between unemployment and output, and its evolution following the financial crisis of 2008, with the aim of drawing potential consequences for labour market modelling strategies in place within the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). First, the...

This paper reviews important approaches to discounting in economic modelling. It summarizes historical approaches and discusses why exponential discounting has been adopted as a widely accepted benchmark. The article then presents hyperbolic discounting as an alternative, while stresses...

This article focuses on applied general equilibrium models and explores main features of these models. Examples of successful applications of these models are demonstrated and appropriateness of the applied computable general equilibrium models in policy evaluation is assessed. Conditions of...

The paper presents a tool for the simulation of environmental policy impact. The main concern deals with different market structures and policy results. The subject is analyzed with use of an investment schedule of a representative firm, which faces the choice of two possible production...

A small labour market model for the six largest euro area countries (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium) is estimated in a state -space framework. The model entails, in the long run, four driving forces: a trend labour force component, a trend labour productivity component,...