We use wavelet analysis to investigate to what extent individual U.S. states' business cycles are synchronized. The results show that the U.S. states are remarkably well synchronized compared to the previous findings w.r.t. the Euro Area. There is also a strong and significant correlation...

This paper analyses results on social insurance pension liabilities and entitlements across OECD countries, on the basis of a new data collection. In addition to information on employment-related schemes (covered in the central framework of the national accounts), this new data collection also...

This paper offers a plausible explanation for the close link between oil prices and aggregate macroeconomic performance in the 1970s. Although this link has been well documented in the empirical literature, standard economic models are not able to replicate this link when actual oil prices are...

We show that dependence of production on foreign inputs (or non-producible natural resources) can significantly increase the likelihood of indeterminacy. Payment of imported foreign factors of production may act as a semi-fixed cost, amplifying production externalities and returns to scale,...

This paper takes a new look at an old issue: the coal market integration in significant regions: Europe (East and West Russia), Asia (China and Indonesia), Africa (Mozambique and South Africa), America (Colombia), and Australia. Our main contribution is to perform this analysis in the...

Since 1980, there has been a steady increase in earnings inequality alongside rapid technological growth in the U.S. economy. To what extent does technological change explain the observed increase in earnings dispersion? How does it affect the optimal progressivity of the tax system? To answer...