Europe's new fiscal rules

Europe is putting in place a new system of fiscal rules following the euro area sovereign debt crisis and decades of rising government to debt-to-GDP ratios. These include the so-called "six pack" to upgrade the Stability and Growth Pact to a new Treaty incorporating the "fiscal compact".

The Political Economy of Services in Regional Trade Agreements

How do services commitments in RTAs influence multilateral negotiations? Through 4 case studies of the RTAs of Chile, Japan, the EU and the US, this paper looks at political economy issues underlying RTAs in general, as well as the specific concessions that countries make on trade in services.

Transparency Mechanisms and Non-Tariff Measures: Case Studies

Transparent design and implementation of domestic regulation reduces business costs for the public and private sector, according to these case studies from Australia, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States.

International financial integration and the external positions of euro area countries

This paper describes the dynamics of the external positions of euro area countries since the formation of EMU.

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• Economic Survey of Euro Area 2010

Current account imbalances in the euro area: a comparative perspective

This paper considers the increase in current account imbalances in euro area countries since the early 1990s.

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• Economic Survey of Euro Area 2010

Resolving and avoiding unsustainable imbalances in the euro area

Some euro area countries accumulated large and persistent external imbalances during the upswing, revealing important weaknesses in the macroeconomic management of the monetary union.

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• Economic Survey of Euro Area 2010

Minimising risks from imbalances in European banking

The euro area financial system took excessive risks during the global credit boom, which in some countries led to an unsustainable increase in credit, higher asset prices and housing booms.

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• Economic Survey of Euro Area 2010

Improving fiscal performance through fiscal councils

There is growing interest in the role of independent fiscal institutions, or fiscal councils, in helping to improve fiscal performance.

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• Economic Survey of Euro Area 2010

The Use of International Standards in Technical Regulation

To what extent do governments use international standards in their technical regulations? This paper looks at the electrical household appliance, natural gas equipment and telephony sectors in Canada, Japan, Korea, Mexico, United States and the European Union.

European Union: Catching up and inflation: Balassa-Samuelson, Engel’s law and other culprits

This study analyses the impact of economic catching up on annual inflation rates in the European Union with a special focus on the new member countries of Central and Eastern Europe.