In this paper, we explore the role of labor markets for monetary policy in the euro area in a New Keynesian model in which labor markets are characterized by search and matching frictions. We first investigate to which extent a more flexible labor market would alter the business cycle behaviour...

In this paper we present an extension of the Taylor model with staggered wages in which wage-setting is also influenced by reference norms (i.e. by benchmark wages). We show that reference norms can considerably increase the persistence of inflation and the extent of real wage rigidity but that...

Renewed interest in fiscal policy has increased the use of quantitative models to evaluate policy. Because of modelling uncertainty, it is essential that policy evaluations be robust to alternative assumptions. We find that models currently being used in practice to evaluate fiscal policy...

This paper investigates inter-industry wage differentials in Belgium, taking advantage of access to a unique matched employer-employee data set covering all the years from 1999 to 2005. Findings show the existence of large wage differentials among workers with the same observed characteristics...

This paper provides new evidence on the effects of government spending shocks and the fiscal transmission mechanism in the euro area for the period 1980-2008. Our contribution is two-fold. First, we investigate changes in the macroeconomic impact of government spending shocks using time-varying...

Der wirtschaftliche Aufholprozeß der neuen Bundesländer wird von der Bundesregierung u.a. durch Investitionszulagen unterstützt. Um möglichst zielgenau zu fördern, wird im Investitionszulagengesetz festgelegt, was und in welcher Höhe gefördert werden kann. Dazu sieht das Gesetz sehr...

Die Dynamik des Wohnimmobilienmarktes wird insbesondere durch die Veränderung der Einkommen junger Haushalte bestimmt. Zu diesem Ergebnis kommt eine neue Studie des ifo Instituts über "Fluktuationen des Wohnimmobilienmarktes", in der ein für die USA und Großbritannien entwickelter...