Though the main benchmark used to assess pension reforms continues to be the expected resulting fall in future government spending, the impact of policy changes on pension adequacy is increasingly coming to the fore. As yet, there does not seem to be a broad consensus in policymaking circles and...

The Hodrick-Prescott (HP) filter is a commonly used method, particularly in potential output studies. However its suitability depends on a number of conditions. Very small open economies do not satisfy these as their macroeconomic series exhibit pronounced trends, large fluctuations and...

This paper presents estimates of the possible impact on the Maltese economy of the reduction in electricity and water tariffs to residential customers that took place on 31 March 2014 and the subsequent lowering of tariffs to commercial customers, which is expected to take place in March 2015....

This article studies the demand for one particular component of the money stock, currency, in Malta in the light of the existing theoretical and empirical framework. In particular, it argues that the commonly applied analytical framework needs to be tweaked slightly for it to better explain the...

After outlining the various methods used to estimate potential output, this article presents estimates for Malta derived from one of the most commonly used methods, i.e. the production function approach. Given the uncertainty surrounding these kinds of estimates, they are compared with those...

Since the 1990s reforms have changed substantially both the nature of state pension provision and the level of generosity. This article tries to assess the impact of these changes using estimates of pension wealth for a number of hypothetical cases. By focusing on all prospective pension...

In this lecture, I will try to start answering the question of whether the pension reforms enacted in Europe since the 1990s will prove to be sustainable. This broad question has embedded in it both theoretical and empirical sub-questions. On the theoretical side, I will need to see how best to...

Europe’s pensions landscape has changed dramatically since the 1990s. This paper tries to assess better the impact of these changes using a broad social sustainability framework. Pension wealth estimates for a variety of hypothetical cases are used to assess the ability of systems to alleviate...

Since the global recession that took hold around the first decade of this century, Malta registered a more favourable economic performance than most of the other euro area states. It is difficult to reconcile Malta’s relatively high rate of economic growth with the openness of a small economy...

Successive reforms enacted since the 1990s have dramatically changed Europe’s pensions landscape. This paper tries to assess the impact of recent reforms on the ability of systems to alleviate poverty and maintain living standards, using estimates of pension wealth for a number of hypothetical...