Abbassi, P., Bräuning, F., Fecht, F. & Peydró, J. S. (2015) “Eurozone interbank lending market during the Global and EZ crises“, VoxEU Organisation, 02 Απριλίου.   The Global Crisis and subsequent sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone severely distressed wholesale funding markets. This column argues that in the Eurozone, interbank funding conditions tightened particularly for cross-border borrowing. Moreover, during the worst moments of the crisis, the same borrower bank could …Read More

Mitchell, B. (2015) “ECB should start funding government infrastructure and cash handouts“, Bill Mitchell Blog, 30 Μαρτίου.   I was a signatory to a letter published in the Financial Times on Thursday (March 26, 2015) – Better ways to boost eurozone economy and employment – which called for a major fiscal stimulus from the European Central Bank (given it is the only body in the Eurozone that can introduce such …Read More

Marty, O. (2015) “The Juncker Plan – the vehicle for revived European ambition?“, Fondation Robert Schuman – The Research and Studies Centre on Europe, European Issues – European Issue No. 347, 09 Μαρτίου 2015.   The proposed regulation on the creation of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) was presented by the European Commission on 13th January 2015. The trilogue is going on until the end of the Latvian …Read More

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

Barrios, S., Fatica, S., Martinez, D. & Mourre, G. (2015) “The fiscal effects of work-related tax expenditures in Europe“, European Economy. Economic Papers, Νο. 545. February: Brussels.   Work-related tax incentives can have a significant effect on how much, if at all, certain individuals decide to work. This paper examines the fiscal impacts and associated welfare costs of reforms to such tax relief measures in five European countries, France, Spain, …Read More