Bulletin Issue 62 (Autumn 1994) 

IN THIS ISSUE...

This issue of the Bulletin reports conferences on the microstructure of foreign exchange markets and on unemployment policies for the Western industrialized countries, and a discussion meeting on labour markets in the transforming economies of Central and Eastern Europe.

Currency Markets
A joint conference with NBER and Banca d'Italia examined theories of market microstructure that may account for the important role played by the structure of currency markets in short-run exchange rate behaviour.

Unemployment Policy
A joint conference with the Consorcio de la Zona Franca de Vigo examined competing explanations of the OECD economies' current high unemployment levels and their implications for policy design.

Discussion Meeting
Michael Burda examined the causes of high unemployment in Central and Eastern Europe and stressed the key role of active labour market policies for economics in transition.

Among Recent Discussion Papers
Karl-Heinz Paqué attributes the strength of the West German post-war recovery in the 1950s to the marked improvement in international economic cooperation relative to the 1920s.

Dermot Leahy and Peter Neary investigate how differences in firms' and governments' ability to precommit to tariffs, subsidies and prices affect the case for infant industry protection.

Kym Anderson and Richard Snape call for the Pacific rim economies to maintain their multilateralist stance in trade negotiations with the 'discriminatory' regional blocs elsewhere.

Albrecht Ritschl questions whether poor starting conditions after 1945 account for the GDR's poor productivity record, which he attributes instead to its policies of autarky and a trade bias to the East.

David Audretsch focuses on the role of individuals in new-firm start-ups to show how new entry not only reduces excess profits but also creates new products.

Jorge Padilla, Samuel Bentolila and Juan Dolado show that firms capture market share under oligopoly when their rivals raise wages, but the interests of their associated unions usually coincide.

Tamim Bayoumi and Alun Thomas argue that European Monetary Union may enhance price flexibility and allow larger inflation differentials than EU national central banks currently tolerate.

Philip Parker and Lars-Hendrik Röller find marked variation in the extent of collusive behaviour in US cellular telephone services across geographic areas and operators.

Rudolf winter-Ebmer and Josef Zweimüller demonstrate that immigration had only negligible detrimental effects on the employment prospects of young Austrian men in the late 1980s.

Bankim Chadha and Fabrizio Coricelli call for early private sector taxation and external assistance targeted on the unemployed to hasten the transforming economies' restructuring.

Peder Pedersen discusses a variety of reasons for the late start and early end of the 'golden age' of high post-war growth in Denmark relative to other West European countries.

Roland Bénabou demonstrates that decentralization of school funding exacerbates social stratification without necessarily enhancing efficiency.

Leonardo Leiderman and Gil Bufman draw lessons from Israel's gradual programme of financial deregulation and liberalization for the design of reform packages elsewhere.

Gilles Saint-Paul shows that the relationship between inequality and fiscal policy depends critically on financial markets' performance in fostering investment in human capital by the poor.

Damien Neven argues that many of EU members' concerns about increased competition from the East in 'sensitive' sectors are largely misplaced.