Vives, X. (2015) “A framework for banking structural reform, VoxEU Organisation, 17 Μαρτίου.   The 2007–08 crisis revealed regulatory failures that had allowed the shadow banking system and systemic risk to grow unchecked. This column evaluates recent proposals to reform the banking industry. Although appropriate pricing of risk should make activity restrictions redundant, there may nevertheless be complementarities between these two approaches. Ring-fencing may make banking groups more easily resolvable …Read More

Nelson, Β., Pinter, G. & Theodoridis, K. (2015) “Does a surprise tightening of monetary policy expand shadow banking?“, VoxEU Organisation, 16 Μαρτίου.   There has been an extensive debate over whether central banks should raise interest rates to ‘lean against’ the build-up of leverage in the financial system. This column reports on empirical evidence showing that, in contrast to the conventional view, surprise monetary contractions have tended to increase shadow …Read More

Amiel, D. & Paul-Adrien, H. (2015) “Is there an easy way out? Private marketable debt and its implications for a Eurozone break-up“, VoxEU Organisation, 15 Μαρτίου.   As the Eurozone crisis lingers on, euro exit is now being debated in ‘core’ as well as ‘periphery’ countries. This column examines the potential costs of euro exit, using France as an example. The authors estimate that 30% of private marketable debt would …Read More

Kobielarz, M., Uras, B. & Eijffinger, S. (2015) “Sovereign debt, bailouts and contagion in the Eurozone“, VoxEU Organisation, 12 Μαρτίου.   The Eurozone Crisis has been characterised by a sharp rise in sovereign interest rates in peripheral countries. The re-emergence of spreads between peripheral and core Eurozone countries at the start of the Greek crisis came after a decade of homogeneous interest rates in the monetary union. This column investigates …Read More

Claeys, G., Leandro, A. & Mandra, A. (2015) “European Central Bank quantitative easing: the detailed manual“, Bruegel Institute, 11 Μαρτίου.   The European quantitative easing programme, the Public Sector Purchase Programme (PSPP), started on 9 March 2015 and will last at least until September 2016. Purchases will be composed of sovereign bonds and securities from European institutions and national agencies. The European Central Bank Governing Council imposed limits to ensure …Read More