In response to the financial crisis, the ECB has had to adopt new instruments to support the euro area economy and preserve the integrity of the single currency. This has challenged the current framework of the Monetary Dialogue exercise. This paper briefly assesses the implications of enhanced...

Applying a t-DCC-GARCH model to daily spread data, four phases of interaction in euro area sovereign bond markets are identified between January 2008 and June 2013. The initial period (January-October 2008) is followed by a general rise in pairwise correlation values between November 2008 and...

Convergence among regions is explicitly defined as a political aim of the European Union. Overall, NUTS3 regions have indeed shown a path of convergence since the year 2000, but there are huge differences among the regions. Many Eastern European countries as well as several regions in Spain and...

This study examines from a cross-national perspective the importance of inheritance as a source of private wealth accumulation. Multivariate econometric analyses of harmonized survey data obtained from 11 European countries reveal that inheriting households own considerably more wealth than...

Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) can be characterised as a complicated set of legislation and institutions governing monetary and fiscal responsibilities.The measures of fiscal responsibility are to be guided by the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), which sets rules for fiscal policy and makes a...

This thesis consists of four essays in empirical macroeconomics. The first three essays examine the conduct of monetary policy during a disinflationary and deflationary era, with the policy interest rates close to or at the zero bound.The questions of interest include the potency of the interest...

1 Introduction . 10 2 Alternative models for optimal price setting 16 2.1 Basic model with endogenous supply 17 2.2 Optimal price setting models . 21 2.2.1 Optimal price setting with fully flexible prices 21 2.2.2 Optimal non-overlapping price setting with nominal rigidities . 23 2.2.3 Optimal...