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Bulletin
No 65 Winter 1995/6
IN THIS ISSUE...
This issue of the Bulletin reports publications and discussion meetings on
inflation targets, and Central and East European tax and benefit reform; a
conference comparing market reforms in transition economies; workshops on labour
markets and unemployment , international finance and taxation, empirical
macroeconomics, the new economic geography, and exchange rate regimes in
transition economies; and discussion meetings on trade and development, initial
public offerings, policy formation in the European Union, and East Asian growth
miracles.
Inflation Targets
A new CEPR publication analyses the role, announcement and achievements of
inflation targets. At a related discussion meeting Mervyn King asked 'Do
Inflation Targets work?'.
Tax and Benefit
reform in the East
A new CEPR
publication takes stock of the first five years of fiscal reform in the
Visegrád nations, focusing on the impact on households, the taxation of
enterprises, and labour market policy.
Comparative Market
Reforms
A joint conference with CEP11 and the OECD Development Centre held at the
Institute for World Economics in Budapest compared different approaches to
market reform in China and Central and Eastern Europe. Labour
Markets
At a joint workshop with University Aarhus, researchers discussed nominal
wage-price sluggishness; a related workshop at University College Dublin focused
on the role of imperfect information and imperfect competition in Europe's high
unemployment; and a third with the ESRC Research Centre on Micro-Social Change
at the University of Essex addressed labour market issues that can be
investigated using the British Household Study. Finance
in Europe
Researchers at a joint workshop in Maastricht with the Limburg Institute of
Financial Economics discussed models of international financial markets; and a
related workshop in Bergen explored international taxation. Empirical
Macroeconomics
A joint workshop at ECARE, Université Libre de Bruxelles looked at
empirical macroeconomics, asking 'What methods for what problems?'. The
New Economic Geography
A joint workshop with LSE's Centre for Economic Performance explored new
developments in the analysis of the location of economic activity. Transition
Economics
Researchers at a joint workshop with the 21 Century Foundation in Sofia
addressed convertibility and exchange rate policy in the transformation of
Central and East European countries. Discussion
Meetings
At a London meeting Patrick Minford extolled the elixir of
growth, which can
turn torpid or declining economies into growth miracles. At
another London meeting, sponsored by Merrill Lynch, Julian Franks explored the
strong incentives for insiders to underprice initial public offerings as a way
to regain control. At a Brussels
meeting with ECARE, Jordi Gual assessed the coherence of European Union
industrial, competition and trade policies. At
a third London meeting, Dani Rodrik offered an alternative explanation for East
Asia's growth miracles.
Among Recent Discussion Papers
Bernard Hoekman evaluates the Uruguay Round's General Agreement on
Services. Alessandra
Casella explores the evolution of standards in the context of free
trade. Nick
Crafts asks why Northern Ireland missed out on the golden age of European
economic growth. Willem
Buiter reviews the arguments for and against European economic and monetary
union.
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