Who supported the Deutsche Bundesbank? : an empirical investigation

Abstract The relevance of public support for monetary policy has largely been overlooked in the empirical central bank literature. We have constructed a new indicator for the support of the German Bundesbank and present descriptive and empirical evidence. We nd that major German interest groups were quite heterogeneous in judging a given policy stance. Empirically, we show that (a) public support can (at least partly) oset pressure from other organized groups and (b) accounting for popular support of the central bank allows to make more accurate forecasts of the short-term interest rate.

Ageing, Funded Pensions and the Dutch Economy

This paper attempts to paint a coherent picture of the effects of ageing on a small, open, economy with large pension funds in different institutional settings. Quantitative scenarios are projected with an applied computable general equilibrium model with institutional details. We find that ageing leads to a tighter labor market, increasing costs for both pension funds and the government, and leaving the economy vulnerable to financial and further demographic shocks. We show that defined benefit pension arrangements can be destabilizing, but less so if an average-wage variable-indexation contract is chosen. Government can help by adopting a policy of tax smoothing, but the single most important determinant of the net burden of ageing is the eventual size of the increase in labor market participation of older workers. The intergenerational welfare effects of demographic shocks and changes in international interest rates are sizable and should be an integral part of the assessment of different policy instruments.ageing, funded pensions, applied general equilibrium models, the Netherlands

On the development of raem: The dutch spatial general equilibrium model and it's first application to a new railway link

This paper describes the development of a spatial computable general equilibrium model aimed at estimating the indirect economic effects of major transport infrastructure projects on Dutch regions. The RAEM model is based in the so-called new economic geography literature. It employs monopolistic competition for fourteen sectors as the basic market form, and calibrates most of its coefficients on recently constructed bi-regional input-output tables for the Netherlands. The general outline of the model is described and the way it fits in with evaluation schemes presently adopted by the Dutch government and the European Commission. A first version of the model has been applied to a base scenario for the year 2020 and has been used for evaluating the indirect economic effects of a new railway link between Amsterdam and Groningen. The paper describes the results of this exercise and discusses the way the RAEM model will be developed further in the near future.

NETSCAPE - Europe and the Evolving World City Network

This paper focuses on the interdependencies between firms and spatial networks (nodes and linkages) at different European spatial scales. The paper is structured into two parts: (1) Conceptualization; (2) Empirical Analysis. Part (1) consists of three chapters conceptualizing various scales of city-firm networks. The first concerns the macro scale, discussing the development of specific networks within the globalization process. The second analyses the mezzo level of European networks and their national to supranational transformation. On the micro level Rotterdam's internal and external network is conceptualized. Part (2) empirically reveals the European city-firm network at mezzo and micro scales, based on datasets including the top 100 EU multinationals, their affilates/subsidiaries and the city locations of all these firms. Chapter one analyses the mezzo scale, showing various hierarchies of city-firm interdependencies, for the sectors of manufacturing, trade, information, public services and basic materials. The second chapter analyses the relative position of Rotterdam within this interscalar network, by specifically investigating its internal and external city-firm networks. From this Rotterdam's existing strengths and weakenesses, and possible future implications are determined.

Real Pension Rights as a Control Mechanism for Pension Fund Solvency

This paper models policy responses to changes in solvency by Dutch occupational pension funds using a unique panel dataset containing the balance sheets of all registered pension funds in the Netherlands over a period of 15 years (1993-2007). The model describes how nominal pension rights are expanded, by e.g. indexation or backservice, or, on the contrary, how the current pension accumulation is skimmed, e.g. by setting the pension premium over its actuarially fair price to build buffers. Policy responses are explained by the funding ratio and other pension fund characteristics such as pension funds' size and type, and participants' ages. We find that pension rights are expanded in line with the funding ratio, but that the pension funds' response function exhibits two sharp and significant behavioural breaks, close to the minimum funding ratio of 105% and the target ratio of around 125%. These levels also play a pivotal role in current supervisory regulation. We further find that large pension funds and grey funds are relatively generous to participants.pension funds, pension rights, risk sharing instruments, indexation, funding ratio, solvability, regime shifts.