This paper uses data on German government bond futures options to examine the behaviour of market expectations around monetary policy actions of the European Central Bank (ECB). In particular, this paper focuses on the asymmetries in bond market expectations, as measured by the skewness of...

The purpose of this paper is to assess the Tacis programme thirteen years after its inception. Using a combination of economic and social indicators, the paper shows the very high cost of the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy in the case of the thirteen Tacis countries. The...

The aim of this document is to highlight the contribution of Europe’s civil society organisations represented at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on the Single Market debate. The EESC has been closely following the Single Market from the civil society perspective and set up...

This document sets out a summary of the responses received by ESMA regarding the procedural rules to impose fines and periodic penalty payments to TRs and includes ESMA’s final technical advice to the Commission on the future Regulation on the procedural rules to impose fines and periodic...

ESMA delivers second set of advice on EMIR equivalenceFollowing its technical advice published on 9 September 2013, the European Securities and Market Authority (ESMA) has published a supplement to its advice to the European Commission on the equivalence of the regulatory regime for central...

The document describes the evolution of intra-EU current account asymmetries. Some experimental results obtained using a modelling approach to derive asymmetry-free European aggregates are presented. The results are not usable at the national (Member State) level and they will not eliminate...

In 2005 the current account deficit attained 7½% of GDP, its worst position of the last 25 years, and in 2006 it might reach 8½%. Traditionally, Spain’s trade deficit has been partially offset by surpluses in other external balances, particularly service trade, as a result of large net...

This is a survey on the recent game theoretic literature on committee decision making. We consider theoretical work on the role of (i) strategic voting, (ii) costly information acquisition, (iii) conflicting interests, and (iv) communication in committees. Moreover, we review recent experimental...

The ECB Working Paper Series seeks to disseminate economic research on issues that are relevant to the various tasks and functions of the ECB. The Series invites submissions of research work by ECB staff and visitors. Papers by researchers not affiliated with the ECB may also be considered for...