Burda, Michael, (2013), “Redesigning the ECB with regional rather than national central banks”, www.voxeu.com, 15 Ιουλίου. Eurozone national central banks that take a national perspective risk politicising the ECB’s monetary policy. This column argues that this is a significant risk that should be overcome with a fundamental overhaul of the Eurosystem. A central element would be to take the ‘national’ out of the EZ’s national central banks. Just as US regional …Read More

Gros, Daniel, (2013), “Europe’s Zombie Banks”, www.project-syndicate.org, 10 Ιουλίου. What is wrong with Europe’s banks? The short answer is that the sector is too large, has too little capital, and contains too many players that lack a viable long-term business model. It is the combination of the last two factors – an overabundance of banks with no sustainable way to turn a profit – that constitutes the most serious and …Read More

Stiglitz, Joseph, (2013), “The Free Trade Charade”, www.project-syndicate.org, 4 Ιουλίου. Though nothing has come of the World Trade Organization’s Doha Development Round of global trade negotiations since they were launched almost a dozen years ago, another round of talks is in the works. But this time the negotiations will not be held on a global, multilateral basis; rather, two huge regional agreements – one transpacific, and the other transatlantic – …Read More

Bartels, Bernhard, Weder di Mauro, Beatrice, (2013), “A rating agency for Europe-A good idea?”, www.voxeu.org, 4 Ιουλίου. US-based credit-rating agencies are regularly subject to condemnation for causing or amplifying financial crises – the Eurozone Crisis in particular. Should Europe try to set up a European agency to counter this? This column discusses evidence that shows that the largest German rating agency was more aggressive than the US Big Three both …Read More