The International Seminar on Macroeconomics (ISoM) has met annually in Europe for thirty years. The papers included in the 2006 volume discuss the relationship between prices and productivity in the OECD; monetary policy impact on inflation and output; implications of rising government debt; the relationship between consumption and labor market tightness; variation in real wages over the business cycle; production sharing and business cycle synchronization in accession countries; and, pension systems and the allocation of macroeconomic risk.The 2007 papers discuss interest-setting and central bank transparency; expectations, monetary policy, and traded good prices; public investment and the golden rule; the role of institutions, confidence, and trusts in financial integration within EU countries; international portfolios with supply, demand, and redistributive shocks; transmission and stabilization in closed and open economies; capital flows and asset prices; and, welfare implications of financial globalization without financial development.

The NBER International Seminar on Macroeconomics brings together leadingAmerican and European economists to discuss a broad range of current issues inglobal macroeconomics. An international companion to the more American-focused NBERMacroeconomics Annual, this particular volume offers cutting-edge research onmonetary and fiscal policy responses to macroeconomic fluctuations, with specialemphasis on tailoring a single monetary policy for the diverse economies that makeup the European Monetary Union. The individual papers examine such topics as whetherrule-based monetary policy should target price levels or inflation rates; how muchcyclical correlation across countries can be attributed to transmission betweenmultinational companies and their international affiliates; the different effects ofmonetary policy in high-debt and low-debt countries; and the prospects for the ten2004 entrants to the European Union, based on the experiences of EU entrants of the1980s.