There is considerable evidence from industrial countries that the output gap is an important determinant of inflation. This paper examines whether the gap model also works in developing, newly industrializing, and industrial Asian economies. The output gaps are based on a nonparametric...

An aggregate production function is estimated using recent cointegrating techniques particularly appropriate for estimating long-run relationships. The empirical results suggest that the growth of output in France has been spurred by increased trade integration within the European Community and...

The methodology used in this paper has three distinguishing features: the natural rate of unemployment and potential output are jointly estimated; the procedure integrates wage and price data with "real" and structural data; and the approach encompasses many of the methods found in the literature....

Empirical estimates are presented of the policy and structural determinants of the natural rate of unemployment in Canada. The structural features of the economy that impinge on the adjustment of real wages to their equilibrium level are discussed, and estimates are presented showing how the...

This paper argues that an important group of labor market policies are complementary in the sense that the effect of each policy is greater when implemented in conjunction with the other policies than in isolation. This may explain why the diverse, piecemeal labor market reforms in many European...

This paper tests for purchasing power parity (PPP) using real effective exchange rate data for 90 developed and developing countries in the post-Bretton Woods period. Support for PPP is found, since the majority of countries experience finite deviations of real exchange rates from parity. The...

Univariate studies of the hypothesis of unit roots in real exchange rates have yielded consensus point estimates of the half-life of deviations from purchasing power parity (PPP) of between three to five years (Rogoff, 1996). However, conventional least-squares-based estimates of half-lives are...

This paper examines the persistence of shocks to world commodity prices, using monthly IMF data on primary commodities between 1957-98. We find that shocks to commodity prices are typically long-lasting and the variability of the persistence of price shocks is quite wide. The paper also...

Univariate studies of the hypothesis of unit roots in real exchange rates have yielded consensus point estimates of the half-life of deviations from purchasing power parity (PPP) of between three to five years (Rogoff, 1996). However, conventional least-squares-based estimates of half-lives are...

This paper tests for purchasing power parity (PPP) using real effective exchange rate data for 90 developed and developing countries in the post-Bretton Woods period. Support for PPP is found, since the majority of countries experience finite deviations of real exchange rates from parity. The...