US house prices rose by nearly 60% in nominal terms between 2000 and 2006, before starting to fall in the summer of 2007.The price rise was driven by strong growth in housing demand coupled with relatively scarce supply due to a shortage of available land in the most urban states and, perhaps, weak competition in the construction sector. In addition, housing demand was fuelled by unsustainable fac... Lire la suite
There has been a sharp acceleration in the rate of increase in world prices for agricultural commodities since 2006, coming after fifteen years of rising steadily but moderately. By percolating throughout the food production chain, rising prices of agricultural commodities are contributing to global inflation. It is important to ascertain the causes of this crisis in order to determine the most ap... Lire la suite
Thanks to the abundant baby boom generations, for the past several decades demographics have been highly favourable to pensions funding. This benign situation is coming to an end as these generations reach retirement. Much of the attendant increase in pension spending is set to last, thanks notably to the durable rise in life expectancy.This is because the baby boom initially increased the proport... Lire la suite
Within the framework of the Lisbon strategy, the European Union member states have committed to undertaking major structural reforms between 2000 and 2010. The reforms were intended to stimulate supply and demand and therefore deliver large gains in terms of activity in the reforming country.In a monetary union like EMU, structural reforms by one member state affect the economy of other member sta... Lire la suite
Local government employees (1.7 million people including subsidised jobs, compared with 2.5 million central government employees) account for around a third of civil service jobs in France. Their increase since the beginning of the 1980s accounts for more than half of the increase in total civil service staffing levels and more than two-thirds of growth total central government and local governmen... Lire la suite
Despite adverse economic conditions in the US, with the real estate market downturn and a deteriorating job situation, combined with a shock to commodities and oil prices and the financial turbulence that emerged during the summer, the global economy remained buoyant in 2007 thanks to continuing fairly vigorous growth in Europe and emerging Asia. Growth in the eurozone was sustained mainly by robu... Lire la suite
The catching up economies have experienced sharp productivity gains, and their currencies are under pressure to appreciate in real terms against the developed countries' currencies. Until July 2007, in most cases these resulted in significant nominal appreciations, while at the same time we saw rising inflationary pressures. This process, which is essentially structural in origin, has been amplifi... Lire la suite
A transaction is considered to be a "large" contract when the French share of it exceeds €3 million. Large civil contracts signed by French firms in the emerging countries are reported on a quarterly basis by the international network of Economic Missions of the Ministry for Ministry forthe Economy, Industry and Employment. These major contracts have a direct impact on French exports, and in parti... Lire la suite
The existence of a strong Japanese current account surplus against a background of relative yen weakness in recent years raises questions, and is contributing to the persistence of international balance of payments imbalances.Over and beyond the role played by macroeconomic policy in Japan (with very low key rates especially), a decline in Japanese households' preference for domestic securities (k... Lire la suite
Prices of agricultural commodities rose sharply in 2006 and 2007. The causes of the trend are both cyclical and structural, which means prices could remain durably high and very volatile. Several exporting regions, especially Australia and Europe, have recently suffered climate events. Cereal and dairy production have fallen as a result, reducing inventories and causing tension in world markets. M... Lire la suite