Risk sharing within a common currency area. Crosscountry risk sharing arrangements take on added importance in a common currency area. Within a currency union, countries cannot use monetary policy to respond to country-specific shocks, since the common monetary policy reflects the (weighted) fundamentals of all of the members and not that of any one country. Likewise, wage and price rigidities and limited labor mobility across countries, whether due to legal constraints like the immobility of pension benefits, or cultural factors, like language differences, can reduce the ability of a country to adjust to country-specific shocks. In principle, domestic fiscal policies are a natural tool in a currency union to manage country-specific shocks. But their scope to act counter-cyclically can sometimes be limited, as was seen in the euro area during the Great Recession: credit markets froze up, making it difficult both for sovereigns and private agents to use borrowing to smooth consumption. To some extent, liquidity provision by the European Central Bank and official crosscountry flows (through the TARGET2 settlement mechanism) helped fill the gap left by private credit markets (Cecchetti, McCauley, and McGuire, 2012). But crosscountry fiscal arrangements might be a powerful additional instrument to support risk sharing in these circumstances.

Background Regional analgesia is worth performing in the multimodal postoperative management of hip fracture (HF) because it reduces hospital morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy and side effects of the recently described “Pericapsular Nerve Group (PENG) Block” with those of the femoral block, which is considered the standard of care for postoperative pain control after femoral neck fracture. Materials and methods We conducted a comparative observational study at a university hospital (Saint Antoine Hospital, Sorbonne University, Paris, France), where the PENG block was introduced in August 2019. We include all patients from June to October 2019, who were coming for femoral neck fractures and who had an analgesic femoral block or PENG block before their surgery. The primary outcome was the comparison of cumulative postoperative morphine consumption 48 hours after surgery. Results Demographics, medical charts, and perioperative data of 42 patients were reviewed: 21 patients before (Femoral group) and 21 patients after the introduction of PENG block (PENG group) in clinical practice. Thirteen total hip arthroplasties (THA) and eight hemi arthroplasties (HA) were included in each group. Demographics were also comparable. The median, postoperative, morphine equivalent consumption at 48 hours was 10 [0–20] mg and 20 [0–50] mg in Femoral and PENG groups respectively (p = 0.458). No statistically significant differences were found in postoperative pain intensity, time to ambulation, incidence of morphine-related side effects, or length of hospital stay. The postoperative muscle strength of the quadriceps was greater in the PENG group than in the Femoral group (5/5 vs. 2/5, p = 0.001). Conclusion In the management of hip fractures, PENG block is not associated in our study with a significant change in postoperative morphine consumption, compared to femoral block. However, it does significantly improve the immediate mobility of the operated limb, making it appropriate for inclusion in enhanced recovery programs after surgery.

This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF. The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate. Since EU accession, trade flows have exhibited strong dynamics in Central-Eastern Europe (CEE). During the period leading to the current global turmoil, the region has also experienced continuous exchange rate appreciation and rapid FDI inflows, both likely to have affected these countries' competitiveness. This paper describes how the determinants of exports and imports have evolved in CEE countries over 2002-07 and econometrically derives their contribution to trade, with a view to assessing competitiveness developments. The analysis reveals that the global and domestic upswings, along with rising trade market shares, go a long way toward accounting for trade developments in CEE countries until 2007, pointing to continuous nonprice competitiveness gains. It also finds that exchange rate appreciation did not unduly weigh on export and import growth, suggesting that most of it reflected an upward movement in its equilibrium value. While the region entered the current period of global slowdown from a strong competitiveness position, the crisis also exposed the vulnerability of its heavy reliance on global demand to a trade shock.

This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate. This paper analyses how globalization has affected inflation in the New EU Members States (NMS), and Poland in particular, since 1995. It finds prices have become less sensitive to domestic economic conditions as trade integration rose, possibly because monetary policy incentives increasingly shifted toward meeting price stability objectives. Quantitatively, globalization appears to have lowered Polish prices by ½ to 1 percentage point annually since 1995, substantially more than in advanced economies. However, future inflation-dampening effects in the NMS are likely to be smaller as the pace of increases in trade openness moderates.