Bulletin No 61 SUMMER 1994

IN THIS ISSUE...

This issue of the Bulletin reports conferences on finance and industrial organization, the new transatlantic economy, and international stock returns and the business cycle, and discussion meetings on prospects for European Monetary Union without the EMS, Eastern Europe's integration into the international monetary system, and European labour markets.

Finance and Industrial Organization
At a San Sebastián conference with the Fundación BBV, leading researchers in finance and industrial organization considered the application of new analytical tools to recent developments in real and financial markets

The New Transatlantic Treaty
At a joint conference with Georgetown University, researchers from Europe and north America considered the implications of recent developments in trade and monetary integration for international policy coordination

Stock Market Returns and Business Cycles
At a London conference with the Weiss Center for International Financial Research addressed the complex linkages between returns to equity-holders and real economic perfirmance.

Discussion Meetings
At a Stockholm meeting with the SNS, Paul De Grauwe argued that European Monetary Union is achievable but only by abandoning the strategy proposed by the Maastricht treaty.

At a Washington meeting with the IMF External Relations Department, Richard Portes called for the accelerated integration of Eastern Europe into the international monetary system.

At a Brussels meeting with ECARE, Michael Burda discussed the relationship between unemployment and workers' mobility across labour market states and geographical regions.

Speakers at a London panel discussion meeting debated the causes and consequences of Europe's high and persistent unemployment and a variety of policy proposals to overcome it.

Among Recent Discussion Papers
Dani Rodrik argues that the poor empirical support for a recent World Bank report on government intervention in the 'high-performing Asian economies' casts doubt on its conclusions.

Dalia Marin and Monika Schnitzer argue that countertrade may improve efficiency by reducing the contractual hazards posed by inefficient technology spillovers and poor creditworthiness.

David Audretsch and Maryann Feldman find that innovative activity in the US clusters in industries in which knowledge spillovers are of greatest importance.

Yannis Katsoulacos and Anastasios Xepapadeas derive an optimal policy to internalize the damaging effects of polluting activities in oligopolistic industries.

Alessandra Casella and Barry Eichengreen consider the relationship between the timing of foreign aid transfers and their eventual outcome.

Christoph Schmidt compares the performance in West German labour markets of ethnic German migrants from Eastern Europe with that of East German migrants and foreign guest-workers.

Tamim Bayoumi shows that a currency union may raise the welfare of its members but unambiguously reduces that of non-members.

Andrea Boltho argues that low exchange rates may have sustained high levels of investment in several West European countries during the Bretton Woods era.

Giorgio Brunello and Kenn Ariga show that earnings profiles that consider worker heterogeneity are steeper in Japan than in the UK, but less so than those based on cross-section data.