We estimate a standard production function with a new cross-country data set on business sector production, wages and R&D investment for a selection of 14 OECD countries including the United States. The data sample covers the years 1960-2004. The data suggest that growth differences can largely...

Using the DGE model of the Finnish Economy (the 'Aino' model), we study the response of the economy to reforms in both labour and product markets. The reforms are two-fold. We assume that the wage mark-up, ie the monopoly power of wage-setters is gradually reduced by 5 percentage points. At the...

We apply textual analysis to extract the tone (sentiment) from the introductory statements to the ECB’s press conferences regarding economic outlook. By combining this information with Eurosystem/ECB staff macroeconomic projections, we are able to directly estimate the Governing Council’s...

We revisit the empirical performance of the Q theory of investment, explicitly taking into account the frequency dependence of investment, Tobin's Q, and cash flow. The time series are decomposed into orthogonal components of different frequencies using wavelet multiresolution analysis. We find...

Macroeconomic models typically assume additively separable preferences where consumption enters the utility function in a logarithmic form. This restriction implies that consumption growth is highly sensitive to movements in real interest rates, which in turn implies an unrealistically steep...

We improve the precision of the test of the implicit contract model that Beaudry and DiNardo proposed twenty years ago. Our data set allows us to define the precise industry and plant of a particular employment relationship, link local labour market characteristics and company characteristics to...

How do cyclical fiscal stabilisation policies affect welfare and government bond risk premia? Using a new Keynesian model we find that the effects of fiscal policy rules on the bond premium and welfare crucially depend on the source of business cycle fluctuations. The overall effect is estimated...

This paper derives and estimates an aggregate Euler consumption equation which allows one to compare the importance of collateral constraints and non-separability of consumption and leisure as alternative sources of excess sensitivity of consumption to current income. Estimation results suggest...

We estimate the ECB's monetary policy reaction function by using real time Eurosystem/ECB staff macroeconomic projection data, which are presented to the ECB's Governing Council when it assesses the monetary policy stance in the euro area. Alternative specifications of the reaction function...

We investigate the causes of the Finnish Great Depression, 1990-1993. We find that the collapse of the overheated financial and banking sectors starting in 1989 was the trigger of the economic crisis. Foreign shocks, which include the collapse of trade with USSR in 1991, can account for at most...