The Global Crisis led to a sharp contraction and long-lasting slump in both Eurozone and US real activity, but the post-crisis adjustment in the Eurozone and the US shows striking differences. This column argues that financial shocks were key determinants of the 2008-09 Great Recession, for both...

This paper presents the European Commission's Global Multi-country model (the GM model). The GM model is an estimated multi-country DSGE model, developed by the European Commission, that can be used for spillover analysis, forecasting and medium term projections. Its development is jointly...

It is often argued that the baseline New-Keynesian model, which relies solely on the notion of infrequent price adjustment, cannot account for the observed degree of inflation sluggishness. Therefore it is a common practice among macro modellers to introduce an ad hoc additional source of...

This paper provides a detailed description of the current version of the Ecofin Council approved production function (PF) methodology which is used for assessing both the productive capacity (i.e. potential output) and cyclical position (i.e. output gaps) of EU economies. Compared with the...

This paper uses an estimated DSGE model to analyze the factors behind the buildup of imbalances in the Spanish economy. Shock decompositions suggest that external imbalances have been able to build up mainly due to the reduction in real interest rates and easier access to credit following the...

In this paper, we study the relationship between income inequality and stock market returns. We develop a quantitative general equilibrium model that links shifts in both labour and capital income inequality to stock market variables. An increase of the share of capital owners’ income from...

It is often argued that the baseline New-Keynesian model, which relies solely on the notion of infrequent price adjustment, cannot account for the observed degree of inflation sluggishness. Therefore it is a common practice among macro modellers to introduce an ad hoc additional source of...

Political clientelism is a dyadic relation in which a politician (the patron) gives material goods and services to a citizen (the client), in exchange for political support. We argue that there is a two-way relation between clientelism and income inequality and poverty. In a poor society in...

Productivity is often computed by approximating the weighted sum of the inputs from the estimation of the Cobb-Douglas production function. Such estimates, however, may suffer from simultaneity and selection biases. Olley and Pakes (1996, Econometrica 64: 1263-1297) introduced a semiparametric...

Summary for non-specialistsAs a result of the financial crisis, cyclically corrected indicators have taken on a greater degree of significance and are firmly back at the forefront of economic policy making. This heightened level of policy interest not only reflects the anxiousness of policy...