The euro changeover has been a success as millions of Europeans have become accustomed to using the new coins and banknotes. What comes next? So far the benefits of the euro are a product of the "vices" which have been taken away from us. In the case of Italy, the gains have been very low...

There are numerous political economy approaches to the question of delayed stabilizations. However, all these approaches regard inflation as the unintentional result of the behavior of interest groups. In this paper we take the opposite view, namely, that when there is polarization of financial...

This paper finds that U.S. economic performance has not generally improved under the Federal Reserve, with the possible exception of the Great Moderation. We analyze the Fed and pre-Fed periods in terms of the rates and volatilities of inflation and real GDP growth. Comparing the pre-Fed periods...

Die Rettungsaktionen der EZB stehen in der Kritik: Es wird befürchtet, dass sie zu steigenden Inflationsraten führen könnten. Die Autoren des Zeitgesprächs sehen diese Gefahr nicht. Vielmehr könne ein gemäßigter Anstieg der Inflation sogar dazu beitragen, die Staatsschulden schneller...

A vast literature exists that measures the amount of real GDP that is lost when trend inflation is lowered by a percentage point, known as the sacrifice ratio. Ball (1994)’s episodic method of selecting disinflation episodes and calculating the sacrifice ratio is the most widely-used method of...

Die Rettungsaktionen der EZB stehen in der Kritik: Es wird befürchtet, dass sie zu steigenden Inflationsraten führen könnten. Die Autoren des Zeitgesprächs sehen diese Gefahr nicht. Vielmehr könne ein gemäßigter Anstieg der Inflation sogar dazu beitragen, die Staatsschulden schneller...

Empirical studies of the global liquidity spillover on Indonesia's economy are still relatively limited. Most of the global contagion literature on Indonesia's economy focuses only on the effects of real shock (on output) due to financial shock. We assert that the effect of global output on...

The paper analyzes the convergence of inflation rates in the group of more developed members of the Eurozone (core countries). What are the characteristics and is the inflation process in these countries sufficiently homogeneous? Are the analysed inflation rates converging, so that there is an...

Central bank financial strength has not been a fundamental issue for a substantial period of time. However, recent theoretical and empirical studies argue that central banks need to maintain a sufficient level of financial strength to perform their functions effectively and to achieve monetary...

As the 100th anniversary of the 1913 Federal Reserve Act approaches, we assess whether the nation’s experiment with the Federal Reserve has been a success or a failure. Drawing on a wide range of recent empirical research, we find the following: (1) The Fed’s full history (1914 to present)...