Alexander Bick, Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln, David Lagakos, (2016), “How average hours worked varies with development: Cross-country evidence and implications”, Voxeu, 4 Ιουνίου The development accounting literature tries to account for cross-country output per worker differences by taking stock of inputs per worker. The data employed are often measured without great precision, however, making comparisons difficult. This column presents a new, internationally comparable dataset of average hours worked per adult across the world …Read More

Kay, John, (2016), “Helicopter Money: A Disguise For Debt Financing Funded By Short-Term Borrowing”, Social Europe, 2 Ιουνίου The term “helicopter money” is derived from a vivid image created by the US economist Milton Friedman in which a central banker showers notes on a grateful populace. More recently, the notion has been promoted by Adair Turner, the former chairman of the UK financial regulator, in his book, Between Debt and the Devil. …Read More

Cohen-Setton, Jérémie, (2016), “The abandonment of counter-cyclical fiscal policy”, Bruegel, 3o Μαΐου What’s at stake: The reluctance to use fiscal policy as a stabilizing tool in the current deflationary environment has been puzzling to many and a number of authors are now putting forward possible explanations.In its 2015 Fiscal Monitor, the IMF writes that to be stabilizing, the fiscal balance needs to increase when output rises and to decrease when it falls. …Read More

Torben M. Andersen, Jonas Maibom, (2016), “The trade-off between efficiency and equity”, Voxeu, 29 Μαϊου Theory and empirical data contest the direction of causality in the relationship between economic performance and income inequality – a relationship that is of great political importance. This column uses evidence from OECD countries to show that the relationship is not linear. While some countries can improve economic performance only at the cost of increasing …Read More

Fournier, Jean-Marc, (2016), “The European Single Market: A game changer for economic integration”, Voxeu, 26 Μαϊου The limits of the European Single Market have often been highlighted. This column argues that although implicit barriers remain, the Single Market has delivered substantial benefits to member countries. New empirical evidence is presented of the trade and FDI gains that Central and Eastern European countries have enjoyed since joining the Single Market. On top …Read More

Frankel, Jeffrey, (2016), “Rediscovering Fiscal Policy at the G7”, Project Syndicate, 24 Μαϊου As G7 leaders convene in Ise-Shima, Japan, the global economy’s fragility is a top concern. But instead of focusing on currency wars, the leaders of the major developed economies should be discussing fiscal policy, which under current conditions would be a more powerful tool than monetary policy for boosting economic activity. After all, today, unlike in normal …Read More

Robert Skidelsky, (2016), “The False Promise of Negative Interest Rates”, Project Syndicate, 24 Μαϊου Negative interest rates are simply the latest fruitless effort since the 2008 global financial crisis to revive economies by monetary measures. When cutting interest rates to historically low levels failed to revive growth, central banks took to so-called quantitative easing: injecting liquidity into economies by buying long-term government and other bonds. It did some good, but mostly …Read More

Miroslav Beblavý, (2016), “Can Spain break the curse of the periphery? The upcoming Spanish election and what it means for Europe”, CEPS Essay No 24, 23 Μαϊου In this CEPS Essay, Miroslav Beblavý takes stock of the changing situation in Spanish politics one month before the early elections, which are expected to take place on June 26th in the hope that a new government can finally be formed. He finds …Read More

Claudio Borio, Piti Disyatat, Anna Zabai,(2016), “Helicopter money: The illusion of a free lunch”, Voxeu, 24 Μαϊου As central banks have been testing the limits of unconventional monetary policies, many observers have started to consider more radical options. One that has been gaining ground is that of ‘helicopter money’ (Friedman 1969) or, more soberly described, ‘overt money finance’ of government deficits (Turner 2015). Proponents see it as a sure-fire way …Read More