Using UK data over the 1973q1-2004q1 period, we find that the dynamics of the real exchange rate, real wages and unemployment vary both with large versus small real exchange rate disequilibria and rising versus falling unemployment regimes. The short-run real exchange rate adjusts only when...

We introduce possible asymmetries and non-linearities in the analysis of the taxing and spending decisions of local governments. Our empirical results evidence a down-ward inflexibility of both local government spending and taxation, pointing to a budget-maximizing local government. These...

We apply non-linear error-correction models to the analysis of fiscal policy. Our empirical analysis, based on Italy, shows that the burden of correcting budgetary disequilibria is entirely carried by changes in taxes, rather than changes in government spending or policy mixes. On the other...

The growth of governments has traditionally been modelled within a welfare-driven context, where citizens/taxpayers increase their demand for publicly-provided goods and services in response to economic growth. However, the underlying linear approach does not consider the crisis intervention...

We empirically model the growth of the Italian government on a long historical dataset, starting from the country's unification. Our findings point to the existence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between gross domestic product and government spending, that is robust to different...

We provide a new rationale for commercial activities by non-profit organizations (NPOs) whose primary concern is to supply mission output. We show that investment in commercial activity may be used to insure mission output against the uncertainty of donations, though possibly at the cost of...

This paper argues that existing empirical models of interest rate rules are too simplistic. The hybrid Phillips curve implies that policymakers should respond to both current and expected future inflation rates, in contrast to existing models. We provide evidence that UK policymakers do this.

The Opportunistic Approach to Monetary Policy is an influential but untested model of optimal monetary policy. We provide the first tests of the model, using US data from 1983Q1-2004Q1. Our results support the Opportunistic Approach. We find that policymakers respond to the gap between inflation...

We estimate a flexible non-linear monetary policy rule for the UK to examine the response of policymakers to the real exchange rate. We have three main findings. First, policymakers respond to real exchange rate misalignment rather than to the real exchange rate itself. Second, policymakers...

This paper explores the ability of common risk factors to predict the dynamics of US and UK interest rate swap spreads within a linear and a non-linear framework. We reject linearity for the US and UK swap spreads in favour of a regime-switching smooth transition vector autoregressive (STVAR)...