The experience with the two pillar strategy of the European Central Bank (ECB) suggests that at some point in the future the ECB may have to commit to one of the more traditional policy strategies - a direct inflation target or an intermediate monetary target. This study offers some information...

Crude oil is a homogeneous good traded on specialised exchanges and quoted and invoiced predominantly in US dollars. Despite the strong case for the use of the US dollar as a vehicle currency in the oil trade, we provide an alternative view. We develop a simple network effects model to identify...

This book highlights the achievements and challenges of the ongoing process of financial integration in Europe.   This unique collection will be of great interest to economists and experts in the fields of financial markets and European integration from central, commercial and investment...

This paper decomposes the explained part of the CDS spread changes of 32 listed euro area banks according to various risk drivers. The choice of the credit risk drivers is inspired by the Merton (1974) model. Individual CDS liquidity and other market and business variables are identified to...

We investigate the effect of household cash transfers during childhood on young adult body mass indexes (BMI). The effects of extra income differ depending on the household’s initial socioeconomic status (SES). Children from the initially poorest households have a larger increase in BMI...

We study the effect of a compulsory education reform in Sweden on adult health and mortality. The reform was implemented by municipalities between 1949 and 1962 as a social experiment and implied an extension of compulsory schooling from 7 or 8 years depending on municipality to 9 years...

Research in the health sciences reports persistent racial differences in health care access, utilization, and outcomes. This study investigates three potential sources of these disparities – differential quality of care, physician discrimination, and patient response to therapy. It uses a...

There is ample evidence that bereavement is associated with heightened mortality. Regardless of whether this strong association is truly causal, little is known about the factors contributing to it. This study begins to unpack the black box of the bereavement–mortality puzzle by investigating...

In this paper we examine how an education policy intervention - the introduction of a comprehensive school in Sweden that increased the number of compulsory years of schooling, affected cognitive and non-cognitive skills and long-term health. We use detailed administrative data combined with...