The estimation of slowly and rarely changing variables in panel data with unobserved unit effects suffers from inefficiency of the fixed effects estimator. Point estimates lack reliability when the within variance (the variation across time) remains small. The estimate's efficiency can be...

The introduction of the Euro has considerably affected the de facto monetary policy autonomy - defined as statistical independence from monetary policy in the key currency areas - in countries outside the European Currency Union. Using a standard open economy framework we argue that de facto...