This article asks whether the business cycles of the EU countries have become more or less synchronized after the introduction of the euro. Our findings show that all countries in our EU sample are better synchronized with the EMU-wide economy in the post-EMU period than they were before the...

This paper shows that the Solow model’s predictions are consistent with the data. The standard of living is correlated positively with saving rates and negatively with population growth rates, while just these two variables explain jointly 67% to 73% of the sample’s cross-country variation....

This paper investigates the relationship between the Great Moderation and two measures of inflation performance: trend inflation and inflation volatility. Using annual data from 1970 to 2011 for a large panel of 180 developed and developing economies, the results show that, as expected, both...

Using a panel data set of 61 countries for the 1952-2007 period, the paper shows that fiscal policy is more potent during downturns than during expansions, and that the difference is substantial: the fiscal multiplier is twice as large when output is below its long-term trend. In particular, the...

This paper investigates and compares the experience of several geographic regions with economic growth and convergence in income per capita. Income per capita is correlated positively with saving rates and negatively with population growth rates, though the explanatory power of these two...

This paper studies whether trade openness reduces the domestic fiscal multiplier, but increases the impacts of foreign fiscal shocks, i.e., the spillover effect, as suggested by theory. Using annual data from the period of 1970 to 2011, for 179 developed and developing economies, we show that...

This paper examines the macroeconomic costs and benefits of dollarization. Economic theory suggests that the main benefit is enhanced price stability, while the main cost is higher business-cycle volatility if the dollarizing country’s output is not sufficiently correlated with that of the...