This paper examines the influence of the biographical experience of monetary policy committee members on their performance in managing inflation and output volatility. Our sample covers major OECD countries in the 1999 to 2010 period. Using data envelopment analysis, we study the efficiency of...

This paper aims to explain the rise and fall of communism by exploring the interplay between economic incentives and social preferences transmitted by ideology. We introduce inequality-averse and inefficiency-averse agents and analyze their conflict through the interaction between leaders with...

This paper contributes empirically to the long-debated issue of the legitimacy of the European Central Bank (ECB) with regard to European polities. Using micro-level data from the Eurobarometer survey, we shed light on the socio-demographic determinants of public-opinion support for the ECB. We...

We develop a stochastic overlapping-generations model with endogenously evolving heterogeneous beliefs on the degree of inflation protection to be provided by markets versus the monetary authority. It incorporates adaptive learning from inflation history and imperfect empathy in the cultural...

We study the evolution of inflation aversion preferences across generations. In the theoretical part of the paper, we analyze the dynamics of such preferences in an overlapping-generations model with heterogenous mature agents characterized by different degrees of inflation aversion. We show how...

The gravity model of trade is used to assess the economic consequences of new borders, which arose in the wake of break-ups of multinational federations in Eastern Europe. The intensity of trade relations among the constituent parts of Czechoslovakia, Soviet Union and the Baltics was very high...

Agricultural employment in industrialized countries has been steadily decreasing despite important levels of farm subsidies. In this paper we provide a new explanation for this puzzle, namely the positive impact of subsidies on the education level of farmers’ children. If farmers are credit...

The basic neo-classical model implies that agricultural employment responds positively to increases in farm income. This argument is assumed by proponents and critics of agricultural subsidy programs in their discourse in favor of or against government support for farmers. However, empirical...

This paper proposes a theoretical analysis of the joint impact of foreign aid and oil taxes on the revenues of a rich oil importing country (North) and a two-class, oil exporting country (South). Without coordination, oil taxes are strictly higher in the North and the global allocation of oil is...

[eng] To study transfers between oil-consuming developed countries and oil-producing developing countries, we use a dynamic decentralized general-equilibrium model (GEM) with two countries : a rich, altruistic, and resource-poor country (North) and a poor , resource-rich country (South), where...