The Centre de Recerca en Economia Internacional (CREI) is a research institute sponsored by the Generalitat de Catalunya and Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF). It is located at the campus of UPF in Barcelona. Our research activities focus on international economics and macroeconomics, understood in a broad sense (i.e. encompassing economic growth, business cycles, monetary economics, macroeconometrics, international trade and finance, economic geography, etc.). Given our origin, location and spirit, we seek to emphasize the European dimensions of those fields of study. Our objective at CREI is to promote research subject to the highest standards of academic scholarship. Always in connection with that research dimension, we also want to be a source for education and dissemination of new ideas. We are fortunate to be close to the Department of Economics at UPF, and to be an academic unit of the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics (Barcelona GSE). We collaborate with both institutions in many research and teaching activities. Our research activities are carried out by CREI’s own group of researchers, as well as several research associates from the UPF community. All of us share a commitment to CREI’s ultimate mission: to contribute to a better understanding of the economic forces that shape modern societies. Such an understanding, based on rigorous study, is necessary in order to improve the design of policies and institutions, with the aim of promoting economic growth and raising the welfare of our fellow world citizens.