Mody, A. (2014) “Are the Eurozone’s fiscal rules dying? – if so: good riddance“, Bruegel Institute, 28 Οκτωβρίου.   The European Commission and European Council have blinked. Reprimanding France and Italy for their transgressions of the fiscal rules was too risky. With face-saving measures, France and Italy will now break the eurozone’s prized fiscal rules. While unseemly in the eurozone context, this is a good economic outcome. Forcing deeper austerity …Read More

Wren-Lewis, S. (2014) “Why the Eurozone suffers from a Germany problem“, Mainly Macro Blog, 26 Οκτωβρίου.   When, almost a year ago, Paul Krugman wrote six posts within three days laying into the stance of Germany on the Eurozone’s macroeconomic problems, even I thought that maybe this was a bit too strong, although there was nothing in what he wrote that I disagreed with. Yet as Germany’s stance proved unyielding …Read More

Mishra, P. (2014) “How Germany Conquered Europe in 25 Years“, Bloomberg View, 26 Οκτωβρίου.   On Nov. 9, Berlin will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the wall that divided the city during much of the Cold War. At the time, images of exuberant wall-breakers signaled the end of communism. A quarter-century later, the event seems to have also been a prelude to the rebirth of Berlin and …Read More

Salamone, A. (2014) “Britain’s EU membership hangs by one less thread“, Britain’s Europe Blog, 27 Οκτωβρίου.   Britain, it seems, owes the European Union a certain sum of money. In every year since 2002, it has underpaid into the EU budget and the day of reckoning has finally arrived. However, as usual when it comes to ‘Europe’ for the UK, symbolism triumphs over substance. The country has been hit with …Read More

Nixon. S. (2014) “The Eurozone’s Problems Are Based in Politics“, Wall Street Journal, 19 Οκτωβρίου.   Some say the euro crisis is back; others argue that it never really went away. A gloomy forecast from the International Monetary Fund suggesting a 40% chance of a slide back into recession and a flurry of weak data pointing to a faltering recovery, particularly in Germany, have spooked markets. Once again, the eurozone …Read More

Goodhart, C. & Schoenmaker, D. (2014) “The ECB as lender of last resort?“, VoxEU Organisation, 23 Οκτωβρίου.   As part of the move to a banking union, the largest banks in the Eurozone will soon be supervised by the ECB. This column argues that supervision and the lender of last resort function should be seen as a joint product. After the introduction of the euro, the national central banks continued …Read More