Defence date: 6 June 1995; Examining Board: Olympia Bover, Titulado del Servicio de Estudios, Banco de España, Madrid ; Mervyn A. King, Prof. of Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science, Chief Economist and Executive Director, Bank of England, London ; John Micklewright, Associate Professor of Economics, European University Institute, Florence ; John Muellbauer, Official Fellow in Applied Economics, Nuffield College, Oxford ; Robert J. Waldmann, Supervisor, Associate Professor of Economics, European University Institute, Florence; PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017