Den Haan, Wouter, Ellison, Martin, Ilzetzki, Ethan, McMahon, Michael , Reis, Ricardo, (2017), “The future of central bank independence: Results of the CFM–CEPR Survey”, VoxEu, 10 Ιανουαρίου Over the past 30 years, most central banks across the advanced economies have been given the ability to conduct monetary policy independently from interference by fiscal and political authorities. The latest Centre for Macroeconomics and CEPR expert survey invited views on whether this era …Read More
The impact of unemployment insurance expansion on aggregate employment during the Great Recession
Boone, Christopher, Dube, Arindrajit, Goodman, Lucas, Kaplan, Ethan, (2017), “The impact of unemployment insurance expansion on aggregate employment during the Great Recession”, VoxEu, 8 Ιανουαρίου The Unemployment Insurance programme in the US was significantly expanded during between 2008 and 2014. This column examines the effect of unemployment insurance duration on aggregate employment during the Great Recession using state-level expansions and contractions in insurance generosity. It finds a positive but not …Read More
Σε στάση αναμονής η ΕΚΤ
Canepa, Francesco, (2017), “Σε στάση αναμονής η ΕΚΤ“, Η Καθημερινή/Reuters, 6 Ιανουαρίου H δραστική αναθέρμανση του πληθωρισμού στην Ευρωζώνη και οι καλύτερες από τις αναμενόμενες προοπτικές των επιχειρηματικών δραστηριοτήτων αναμένεται πως θα επαναφέρουν στο προσκήνιο το αίτημα ορισμένων σκληροπυρηνικών της ΕΚΤ για διακοπή της πάρα πολύ χαλαρής νομισματικής πολιτικής της. Σχετικές Αναρτήσεις Darvas, Zsolt, (2016), “Has ECB QE lifted inflation?”, Bruegel Blog, 13 Ιανουαρίου. Eurostat/Flash estimate – December 2016 Euro area annual …Read More
Οι λανθασμένες στρατηγικές επιλογές της Monte dei Paschi
Καθημερινή, (2017), “Οι λανθασμένες στρατηγικές επιλογές της Monte dei Paschi“, Καθημερινή, 6 Ιανουαρίου Οι περισσότεροι Ιταλοί σχολιαστές συμφωνούν πως τα προβλήματα της Monte dei Paschi di Siena, της αρχαιότερης τράπεζας στην Ευρώπη (ιδρύθηκε το 1472), οφείλονται σε μεγάλο βαθμό στις αθέμιτες πιέσεις και παρεμβάσεις του πολιτικού συστήματος. Σχετικές Αναρτήσεις Καραγιάννης, Κώστας, (2016), “Κρατική διάσωση για την Monte Paschi”, Καθημερινή, 23 Δεκεμβρίου Καθημερινή, (2016), “Ρώμη κατά ΕΚΤ για το κόστος διάσωσης …Read More
ECB finally addressing Italian bank woes
Véron, Nicolas, (2017), “ECB finally addressing Italian bank woes”, Bruegel, 4 Ιανουαρίου Most of Italy’s banks, many of which are small and local, have politicized governance features that blur commercial incentives. As a consequence, they were unable to rein in their lending during the downturn of the late 2000s. Many of these loans turned sour in subsequent years and local connections prevented the banks from working them out, so they …Read More
Taxation of temporary jobs: Good intentions but bad outcomes
Cahuc, Pierre, Charlot, Olivier, Malherbet, Franck, Benghalem, Hélène, Limon, Emeline, (2017), “Taxation of temporary jobs: Good intentions but bad outcomes”, VoxEu, 5 Ιανουαρίου Temporary job contracts account for a substantial proportion of the workforce in countries such as France and Spain, but they can result in high job turnover and instability. This column assesses the impact of government policies that impose taxes on temporary contracts to induce employers to lengthen …Read More
What will drive political uncertainty in 2017?
Wolff, Guntram B., (2017), “What will drive political uncertainty in 2017?”, Bruegel, 3 Ιανουαρίου 2017 promises to be another challenging year for Europe’s liberal democracies. The EU is facing three, or even four, elections in major member states. The Netherlands, France, Germany and possibly also Italy will go to the polls. The results of all four elections are far from certain at this stage. Indeed, voting behaviour seems to have …Read More
Approaches to the labour market integration of refugees and asylum seekers
Foti, Klara, Fromm, Andrea, (2016), “Approaches to the labour market integration of refugees and asylum seekers”, Eurofound, Δεκέμβριος Providing swift access to the labour markets of host countries is part of the solution to Europe’s refugee crisis. This report takes forward existing research on the labour market integration of refugees (those with the officially recognised status of international protection) and asylum seekers (those who have applied for international protection and …Read More
Doves, hawks … and pigeons: Why central bankers like monetary policy inertia
Masciandaro, Donato, (2017), “Doves, hawks … and pigeons: Why central bankers like monetary policy inertia”, VoxEu, 2 Ιανουαρίου The discussion of the delayed lift-off in US monetary policy is just the latest episode in a long-lasting debate over the causes of inertia in monetary policy. This column approaches the issue by assuming that psychological drivers can influence the decisions of central bankers. Loss aversion is one source of behavioural bias …Read More
Unusual outcomes and uncertain times
Kozeniauskas, Nicholas, Veldkamp, Laura, (2017), “Unusual outcomes and uncertain times”, VoxEu, 3 Ιανουαρίου Uncertainty shocks are a major avenue of research in the quest to explain business cycles, as well as asset prices and financial crises. This column argues that three conceptually distinct types of uncertainty that are often modelled independently – ‘macro’ uncertainty about an aggregate variable such as GDP, ‘micro’ uncertainty about firms’ individual outcomes, and ‘higher-order’ uncertainty …Read More