The accuracy of the solution of dynamic general equilibrium models has become a major issue. Recent papers, substituting second order for first order approximations, have shown to obtain significant differences in accuracy. Second order approximations have had some considerable success in...

This report elucidates one aspect of economic IAMs: the damage function. Damage functions map environmental changes (primarily mean temperature increases) to economic impacts. This crucial step in the determination of SCC appears in very different form in the leading economic IAMs. Through...

We analyze the feedback mechanisms between economic downturns and financial stress for several euro area countries. Our study employs newly constructed financial condition indices that incorporate banking variables extensively. We apply a non-linear Vector Smooth Transition Autoregressive...

Using parametric and non-parametric estimation techniques, we analyze the sustainability of the recently growing current account imbalances in the Euro Area and test whether the introduction of the European Monetary Union has aggravated these imbalances. For these purposes two alternative...

We review the major provisions of Dodd-Frank, focusing on the monitoring of systemic risk, the limitation on proprietary trading, the regulation of the hedge fund industry, credit rating agencies, and the rules applicable to derivative trading. We compare these provisions with the recent...

The causes of the present crisis are largely to be found in the unregulated development of new financial products and in the over-expansion of the financial sector, in particular the shadow banking sector, which emerged precisely to avoid regulation. These changes led to lower risk perception,...

Germany will be one of the core countries in the European Monetary Union (EMU). Currently there is therefore a great interest in issues of labor market and monetary policy in Germany. On the basis of a macroeconometric model we study the interaction of labor market and alternative monetary...