This paper analyzes the size and the determinants of unexpected changes in EU countries' tax revenues and their impact on the ability of EU governments to use fiscal policy as a macroeconomic stabilisation device. We make use of information taken from the Stability and Convergence Programmes...

The financial and economic crisis has generated renewed interest, especially among policy-makers, in early-warning systems that could help identifying fiscal and macro-financial vulnerabilities potentially triggering risks. Against this background, this paper presents an early-warning index of...

The European accountancy profession lead by the Fidiration des Experts Comptables Europiens, (FEE), is undertaking a major advice and communications project, with the support of the European Commission, to help organisations prepare for the introduction of the new single European currency, the...

The introduction of the euro as a currency in physical existence in January 2002 was a major step in the European integration process. The purpose of this paper is to explore how a representative selection of 12 000 Europeans across all countries in the euro area view the effects of the euro...

The state of development of rental markets as a genuine alternative to home-ownership stands out as a particularly relevant institutional factor shaping the outcome of the housing market and playing a balancing role and alleviating house price pressures. This is especially the case when it...

Why is Greece such a surprisingly closed economy? We employ a gravity model of trade to explain the appallingly poor export performance of Greece and argue that weak institutional quality accounts for a large part of this shortfall. Using a rich dataset of bilateral value-added exports of goods...

This paper analyzes the effects of foreign direct investment on the sales growth rate of domestic companies in the Czech Republic. This paper analyzes the effects of foreign direct investment on the sales growth rate of domestic companies in the Czech Republic. Using firm-level panel data from...

At the moment of the euro cash changeover, inflation perceptions in the euro area deviated from measured inflation, and in some euro-area Member States in a persistent way. In recent years, a growing body of literature has developed on the factors that might explain this deviation. This paper...

This paper investigates whether risk sharing, measured as income and consumption smoothing, among countries in the EU and the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) has increased since the adoption of the euro. We ask: Have the recent increase in foreign equity and debt holdings been...

The paper studies the impact of a securities transaction tax (STT) on financial trading, stock prices and real economic variables in a closed-economy dynamic stochastic general-equilibrium model featuring financial frictions. The model incorporates channels by which 'noise trading' affects real...