The dairy sector makes a substantial contribution to the agricultural turnover in many Member States (MS) of the European Union (EU) as well as in the EU as a whole. Nevertheless, within the EU-27, the size and agricultural importance of the dairy sector varies considerably between MS and across...

This report proposes a prospective vision of the future of the European milk market after the removal of the quotas in 2015. The study has been conducted through consultation of a panel of independent experts. Experts have offered their opinions to describe future trends, driving factors,...

The imbalances in bargaining power between the contracting parties in the food supply chain have drawn much attention, also from policy makers. The European Commission is committed to facilitate the restructuring of the sector by encouraging the creation of voluntary agricultural producer...

The objective of the study is to obtain an overview of the possible policy options for the phasing out of the milk quota scheme and the accompanying measures which could help to ensure a 'soft landing' for the industry should quotas be phased out in 2015. Specifically, this study analyses and...

This paper investigates the in inflationary effects of fscal policy in an optimizing general equilibrium monetary model with capital accumulation, exible prices and wealth effects. The model is calibrated to Euro Area quarterly data. Simulation results show that government defcits, high debt...

Within a two-step GARCH framework we explore the linkages between equity returns of ten sectors in the euro area, the United States and Japan, respectively. Our estimation framework allows a distinction to be made between spillover effects originating from one of the three currency areas and...

This paper investigates the performance of optimised interest rate rules when there is uncertainty about a key determinant of the monetary transmission mechanism, namely the degree of persistence characterising the inflation process. The paper focuses on the euro area and utilises two variants of...

There has been much discussion of the differences in macroeconomic performance and prospects between the US, Japan and the euro area. Using Markov-switching techniques, in this paper we identify and compare specifically their major business-cycle features and examine the case for a common...

The first official data releases of quarterly real GDP for the euro area are published about eight weeks after the end of the reference quarters. Meanwhile, ongoing economic developments must be assessed from various, more readily available, monthly indicators. We examine in the context of...

This paper reviews the key economic issues concerning the welfare costs of inflation and deflation, with a view to shedding light on the desirable properties of the inflation process. Our review of the evidence on the overall costs of inflation and deflation indicates that such costs could be...