We show analytically that the credibility problem which has affected the European Stability Pact originates from the insufficient distinction between two reasons for having binding fiscal constraints. The first reason deals with the governments' tendency to neglect the effects of their fiscal...

This paper shows that two societies differing because of the people's initial propensity to devote time and efforts to non-profit activities may never converge. This lack of convergence is interpreted as the tendency of the cultural values and attitudes dominant in each society to perpetuate...

There is a widespread consensus that China’s growth paradigm needs a rebalancing away from investment and external demand and towards consumption and domestic demand. This rebalancing process is supposed to be accompanied by the transition towards Renminbi’s full convertibility. In contrast,...

The first part of this paper describes some peculiar features of the German socio-economic model and argues that there is a widespread consent in Germany on preserving it in the face of global, European and national challenges. Essential components of this model are the export-oriented...

We develop a growth model distinguishing between a private sector that generates learning-by-doing and technological spillovers and a sector of technologically obsolete and subsidised state-owned enterprises. This distinction allows us to trace the inescapable dual-economy stage of development...

The global crisis has revived the growth-rebalancing debate, backing the position of those advocating a fast reduction of the imbalances between the US and China. By means of a two-country two-stage growth model reproducing the main qualitative features of the Sino-American co-dependency, we...

type="main" xml:lang="en" <p>In a unionized economy with nominal-wage contracts, the ‘natural’ (rational-expectations equilibrium) employment level is not invariant with respect to the stabilization rule followed by the monetary authority. This is because alternative monetary policies change...</p>