Looking at historical cross-country interactions, this book examines the role of the US in the world economy. Illustrating that US shocks tend to have a global nature and that Monetary Union only partially shelters the Euro area from its external environment, the book argues that the US should fully assume its responsibility, minimizing shock transmission.

The GVAR is a global Vector autoregression model of the global economy. The model was initially developed in the early 2000 by Professor Pesaran and co-authors, for the main purpose of analysing credit risk in a globalised economy. Starting from mid-2000 the model was substantially enlarged in the context of a project financed by the ECB, to comprise all major economies and the Euro area as a whole. The purpose of this version was to exploit the rich modelisation of international linkages in order to simulate and analyse global macro scenarios of high policy interest. The rich, yet manageable, specification of international linkages has stimulated a vast literature on the GVAR. Since early 2011, the basic model - and its data base - has also available on a dedicated GVAR-Toolbox website with an easy-to-use interface allowing practical applications by an extended audience, as well as more complex analysis by the expert public. The book provides an overview of the extensions and applications of the GVAR which have been developed in recent years. Such applications are grouped in three main categories: 1) International transmission and forecasting; 2) Finance applications; and 3) Regional applications. By using a language which is accessible to not econometricians, the book reaches out to the extended audience of practitioners and policy makers interested in understanding channels and impacts of international linkages.

Productivity varies widely between industries and countries, but even more so across individual firms within the same sectors. The challenge for governments is to strike the right balance between policies designed to increase overall productivity and policies designed to promote the reallocation of resources towards firms that could use them more effectively. The aim of this book is to provide the empirical evidence necessary in order to strike this policy balance. The authors do so by using a micro-aggregated dataset for 20 EU economies produced by CompNet, the Competitiveness Research Network, established some 10 years ago among major European institutions and a number of EU productivity boards, National Central Banks, National Statistical institutes, as well as academic Institutions. They call for pan-EU initiatives involving statistical offices and scholars to achieve a truly complete EU market for firm-level information on which to build solidly founded economic policies.

Although still relatively closed, the Euro area economy is nevertheless subject to a broad range of economic impacts originating from outside its borders. This book aims to improve our understanding of how, and to what extent, such external developments affect the Euro area. Using a broad range of methodologies and techniques, the chapters analyse the various channels that connect the Euro area to its external environment; most notably trade, capital flows and other international macroeconomic linkages. The result is that the interaction between the Euro area and its 'external dimension' is shown to be more complex and extensive than had previously been thought. With contributions from both academics and professionals, this volume will be an invaluable source of information for researchers and policy-makers concerned with the interaction between regional European integration and globalization.

Although still relatively closed, the euro area economy is nevertheless subject to a broad range of economic impacts originating from outside its borders. This book aims to improve our understanding of how, and to what extent, such external developments affect the euro area. Using a broad range of methodologies and techniques, the chapters analyse the various channels that connect the euro area to its external environment; most notably trade, capital flows and other international macroeconomic linkages. The result is that the interaction between the euro area and its ???external dimension??? is shown to be more complex and extensive than had previously been thought. With contributions from both academics and professionals, this volume will be an invaluable source of information for researchers and policy-makers concerned with the interaction between regional European integration and globalization.

How has increasing economic integration at regional and global level affected the functioning of the global economy? What are the consequences of globalisation and regionalism for world trade, production processes and domestic economies? What kind of economic adjustments do these phenomena imply in terms of factor mobility and relative costs? Globalisation, Regionalism and Economic Interdependence answers these and other questions by exploring the relationship between globalisation and regionalism from both academic and policy-making perspectives. It assesses the extent to which increased global and regional integration has changed the functioning of the world economy and analyses the implications for global trade, relocation of production, structural changes and the international transmission of shocks. With contributions from both academics and professionals, this book is an invaluable guide to the increasingly important effects of the interaction between globalisation and various different forms of regional integration.

How has increasing economic integration at regional and global level affected the functioning of the global economy? What are the consequences of globalisation and regionalism for world trade, production processes and domestic economies? What kind of economic adjustments do these phenomena imply in terms of factor mobility and relative costs? Globalisation, Regionalism and Economic Interdependence answers these and other questions by exploring the relationship between globalisation and regionalism from both academic and policy-making perspectives. It assesses the extent to which increased global and regional integration has changed the functioning of the world economy and analyses the implications for global trade, relocation of production, structural changes and the international transmission of shocks. With contributions from both academics and professionals, this book is an invaluable guide to the increasingly important effects of the interaction between globalisation and various different forms of regional integration.