Of all the institutional arrangements for monetary union in Europe, the fiscal convergence criteria have proved the most difficult to achieve and the most controversial because of their presumed deflationary impact on economies already suffering high unemployment. This paper examines what fiscal...

This paper analyses four popular themes in the debate about the transition to monetary union: (a) fiscal discipline creating gains in credibility; (b) there being perceptible risk of a bail out for the highly indebted countries; (c) budgets being successfully cut to the required 3% limit in...

This paper examines the potential consequences of imposing a ‘stability pact’ on the fiscal convergence criteria for monetary union. Various versions of the stability pact are possible. We examine the consequences of reducing the target deficit ratio to 1% and of refundable fines for those...

In this article, we analyse the conduct of optimal monetary policy for the new euro area. The aggregate euro area economy is modelled to have relatively sluggish adjustment properties and a private sector with mainly backward-looking expectations. In this economy, we assume that the central bank...

This paper sets out first, to quantify the stabilization gains from commitment in terms of household welfare and second, to examine how commitment to an optimal or approximately optimal rule can be sustained as an equilibrium in which reneging hardly ever occurs. We utilize an influential...

This paper examines the effects of changes in Euro Area interest rates using macroeconomic models. It examines the results of a harmonised monetary policy simulation at the Euro Area level using the National Institute of Economic and Social Research’s Global Economic Model (NiGEM) and the...

Many studies suggest that research productivity falls after tenure is granted. We have however limited choice-theoretic understanding of why this should occur. With some simplifying assumptions, we rationalize this as follows. Scholars are assumed to be “specialistsâ€: their research...

Despite the modern origins of endogenous growth theory, we argue that the ‘Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Aim’ written by Immanuel Kant in 1784 provides an early and coherent example of such a theory. Kant’s endogenous growth mechanism is driven by the...

type="main" xml:id="obes12049-abs-0001" <title type="main">Abstract</title> <p>Capital-labour substitution and total factor productivity (TFP) estimates are essential features of many economic models. Such models typically embody a balanced growth path. This often leads researchers to estimate models imposing stringent prior...</p>

We examine the two-level and the three-level nested four factor Constant Elasticity of Substitution production functions, where labor is disaggregated into skilled and unskilled labor and the capital stock into structures and equipment capital. We estimate inter-factor substitution elasticity...