Gopinath, Gita, Kalemli-Ozcan, Sebnem, Karabarbounis, Loukas, Villegas-Sanchez, Carolina, (2015), “Low interest rates, capital flows, and declining productivity in South Europe”,  Voxeu, 28 Σεπτεμβρίου Joining the Eurozone was once a near unquestionably good idea. Now, the costs of joining the monetary union are under close scrutiny. This column takes a slightly different tack, presenting an alternative perspective on how joining the euro has impacted productivity in southern Europe. It turns out that capital wasn’t allocated efficiently across firms …Read More

H. Stierle, Michael, Rocher,  Stijn, (2015), “Household saving rates in the EU: Why do they differ so much?”, European Commission publications, Discussion Paper 005, September Household saving rates differ significantly among EU countries and differences have proven to be persistent over time. In countries as Germany, France and Belgium, households save a relative large share of their disposable income. On the other hand, households in Romania and Bulgaria seem to spend often …Read More

Merler, Sylvia, (2015), “Greece budget update – September”, Bruegel publications, 22 Σεπτεμβρίου Last week, while Europe was looking with growing anticipation at the elections which took place in Greece this weekend, the Greek finance ministry published last week the latest budget execution bulletin, which covers the period January-August 2015. It shows an unchanged primary surplus, still underperforming revenues and what might be the first small step towards the normalization of …Read More

Rizos, Vasileios, Behrens, Arno, Kafyeke, Terri, Hirschnitz-Garbers, Martin, Ioannou, Anastasia, (2015), “The Circular Economy: Barriers and Opportunities for SMEs”, CEPS Working Documents, 17 Σεπτεμβρίου The ‘circular economy’ is gaining momentum as a concept in both academic and policy circles, and circular business models have been linked to significant economic benefits. This paper identifies barriers and enablers to adopting circular economy business practices, and presents key messages for policy-makers. It draws on input from a literature review, on discussions held in …Read More

Eichengreen, Barry, Park, Donghyun, Shin, Kwanho, (2015), “The global productivity slump: Common and country-specific factors”, Voxeu, 17 Σεπτεμβρίου Productivity growth is slowing down around the world. The question is what lies behind this phenomenon and if it can be reversed. This column takes a historic perspective on total factor productivity growth slowdowns to suggest that global factors may play a role in the problem. Factors that are negatively associated with TFP slumps include educational attainment, …Read More

Cohen-Setton, Jeremie, (2015), “The then and now of tightening cycles”, Bruegel publications, 14 Σεπτεμβρίου What’s at stake: This week the Fed will be considering whether to raise its interest rate for the first time in nearly a decade. In a volatile context, the outcome of the struggle between those who want to normalize policy ASAP and those who worry about moving too quickly will be watched closely as it could …Read More

Pasricha, Gurnain, Falagiarda, Matteo, Bijsterbosch, Martin, Aizenman, Joshua, (2015), “Domestic and multilateral effects of capital controls in emerging markets”, ECB Working Paper, No. 1844, August Using a novel dataset on changes in capital controls and currency-based prudential measures in 17 major emerging market economies (EMEs) over the period 2001-2011, this paper provides new evidence on domestic and multilateral (or spillover) effects of capital controls before and after the global financial crisis. Our results, based on panel VARs, suggest that capital …Read More