We examine the relationship between welfare state policies and economic performance in a small open economy with (i) free trade in final goods and international capital mobility, and (ii) aggregate increasing returns to scale. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, we find that a retrenchment of...

In this paper we construct a stylised general equilibrium macromodel to show that demand led expansions may have unexpected effects when market imperfections lead to changes in labour productivity. We find some empirical support, from a number of European countries, for the main predictions of...

We provide empirical evidence from a number of European countries, which shows that unemployment and output are positively related when unemployment is low and inversely related when unemployment is high. We then construct a stylised macro-model with goods and labour market imperfections to show...

In this paper we construct a stylised general equilibrium macromodel to show that demand led expansions may have unexpected effects when market imperfections lead to changes in labour productivity. We find some empirical support, from a number of European countries, for the main predictions of...

The consumption path associated with the life-cycle-optimising version of the permanent- income model is commonly agreed to be a random walk with drift. The persisting failure of the latter to conform to data could, however, raise questions about the suitability of the life-...

In this paper we construct a stylised general equilibrium macromodel to show that demand led expansions may have unexpected effects when market imperfections lead to changes in labour productivity. We find some empirical support, from a number of European countries, for the main predictions of...