Merler, S. (2014) “Lithuania changes the ECB’s voting system – membership threshold triggers change in the ECB’s Governing Council’s voting system, which starts rotating“, Bruegel Institute, 25 Ιουλίου.   Lithuania will become the 19th member of the Euro area on the 1st of January, following Wednesday’s Council endorsement. The most important part of the story – however – is not that someone is still brave enough to join the Euro …Read More

Dale, E. & Porcaro, G. (2014) “Juncker’s new start for Europe – a brief summary of past Bruegel research as it relates to Juncker’s new agenda for the European Commission“, Bruegel Institute, 23 Ιουλίου.   Last week, President Elect Jean-Claude Juncker published his agenda for Europe. To inform the policy debate, we would like to highlight and summarize some of the key research Bruegel scholars have done over the last …Read More

Laeven, L. & Ratnovski, L. (2014) “Corporate governance of banks and financial stability“, VoxEU Organisation, 21 Ιουλίου.   Bank distress during the recent crisis caused significant damage to the real economy. Appropriately, the policy response focused on stronger bank supervision and regulation. This column asks if there is a role for improvements in bank corporate governance. Based on the literature the authors suggest that better risk management, regulation of pay, …Read More

Dorn, Ν. (2014) “The real lesson from the financial crisis is that we need to stop insulating financial regulation from democracy“, LSE EUROPP, 15 Ιουλίου.   The financial crisis has generated a number of policies and discussions across Europe aimed at reforming financial regulation. Nicholas Dorn writes that while there is widespread recognition that a rethink is required to prevent a similar crisis from occurring again, the core problem underlying …Read More

Wood, R. (2014) “Economic policies pursuant to the Global Crisis: A critique“, VoxEU Organisation, 13 Ιουλίου.   The Global Crisis triggered a series of medium-term policy changes. This column reviews the effectiveness of some of these monetary, fiscal policies, and internal devaluation policies. Policymakers anchored their strategic thinking in paradigms that became inapplicable to the new problems. An alternative set of macroeconomic policies is suggested. Interrelated economic problems Current high …Read More

Fernandes, S. (2014) “Who calls the shots in the euro area? “Brussels” or the member states?“, Policy Paper 111, Jacques Delors Institute, 15 Μαΐου.   The recent reform of the European economic governance has helped to foster the perception that Europe is impinging on the sphere of national sovereignty. It is certainly true that member states have established a framework of common action at the European level in an effort …Read More

Martin, Α. & Venture, J. (2014) “Managing credit bubbles“, VoxEU Organisation, 05 Ιουλίου.   There is a widespread view among macroeconomists that fluctuations in collateral are an important driver of credit booms and busts. This column distinguishes between ‘fundamental’ collateral – backed by expectations of future profits – and ‘bubbly’ collateral – backed by expectations of future credit. Markets are generically unable to provide the optimal amount of bubbly collateral, …Read More