This study analyses the impact of economic catching-up on annual inflation rates in the European Union with a special focus on the new member countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Using an array of estimation methods, we show that the Balassa-Samuelson effect is not an important driver of...

Europe has a large and persistent per capita income gap with the United States. Deficiencies in total factor productivity, labor utilization, and capital intensity all play a role. While deeper intra-Europe integration is one key element towards closing these gaps, remaining structural domestic...

We employ a two-stage empirical strategy to analyze the impact of macroeconomic news and central bank communication on the exchange rates of three Central and Eastern European (CEE) currencies against the euro. First we estimate the nominal equilibrium exchange rate based on a monetary model....