This paper explores the interaction between centralized monetary policy and decentralized fiscal policy in a monetary union. Discretionary monetary policy suffers from a failure to commit. Moreover, decentralized fiscal policymakers impose externalities on each other through the influence of...

The Netherlands will be confronted with an almost doubling of the old-age dependency ratio over the next forty years. The costs of the ageing population are primarily reflected in larger expenditures on pensions and health care. This paper explores the consequences of ageing in a baseline...

Everywhere in the industrialized world, population aging is putting social security systems under financial strain. As a result, social security systems are being reformed in many countries. In particular, various countries move from pure pay-as-you-go (PAYG) systems to pension systems that...

Recently, Svensson (1997) has shown that a combination of state-contingent inflation targeting and central banker "conservatism" produces optimal monetary policy if employment is persistent. We argue that the state-contingent nature of the scheme may undermine its credibility. We then show that...