Pilkington, P. (2014)  “Is Economics a Science? Dogmatic Economics Vs. Reflective Economics“, Fixing the Economists Blog, 22 Σεπτεμβρίου.   The question asked in the title of this post is actually somewhat of a trick. It is a trick because it all depends upon how you define ‘science’. Often when people say that economics is a science what they are doing is defining ‘science’ in such a way that economics fits the …Read More

Moreira, A. & Savov, A. (2014) “Shadow banking and the economy“, VoxEU Organisation, 16 Σεπτεμβρίου.   The prevailing view of shadow banking is that it is all about regulatory arbitrage – evading capital requirements and exploiting ‘too big to fail’. This column focuses instead on the tradeoff between economic growth and financial stability. Shadow banking transforms risky, illiquid assets into securities that are – in good times, at least – …Read More

Krugman, P. (2014) “Επιστροφή στα βασικά οικονομικά“, Εφημερίδα «Καθημερινή», 16 Σεπτεμβρίου.   Προ ημερών συμμετείχα σε συνέδριο που διοργάνωσε φοιτητική ένωση με στόχο μια αναθεώρηση της Οικονομικής θεωρίας. Νομίζω πως είναι σημαντικό να συνειδητοποιήσουμε ότι τα τελευταία χρόνια είδαμε να καταρρέουν θεωρίες σε πολλά επίπεδα. Η επιστήμη των Οικονομικών είχε σαφώς εκτροχιασθεί επί χρόνια, στην πραγματικότητα επί δεκαετίες, με αποτέλεσμα την κρίση. Αλλά η αποτυχία των Οικονομικών οξύνθηκε σε μεγάλο …Read More

Boughton, J. (2014) “Restoring financial stability with economic growth“, VoxEU Organisation, 15 Σεπτεμβρίου.   The international financial system is not working fine and reforms of regional and global institutions are much needed. This column discusses some of the transformations that the IMF could implement in order to keep pace with the changes in the world economy. One problem for the credibility of the IMF is the G20 in its current …Read More

Turner, Α. (2014) “Facing Reality in the Eurozone“, Project Syndicate, 08 Σεπτεμβρίου. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s recent speech at the annual gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, has excited great interest, but the implication of his remarks is even more startling than many initially recognized. If a eurozone breakup is to be avoided, escaping from continued recession will require increased fiscal deficits financed with ECB money. …Read More

Wren-Lewis, S. (2014) “Has the Great Recession killed the traditional Phillips Curve?“, Mainly Macro Blog, 14 Ιουλίου.   Before the New Classical revolution there was the Friedman/Phelps Phillips Curve (FPPC), which said that current inflation depended on some measure of the output/unemployment gap and the expected value of current inflation (with a unit coefficient). Expectations of inflation were modelled as some function of past inflation (e.g. adaptive expectations) – at …Read More

Wolff, B. G. (2014) “Europe needs new investment, not new rules – the EU must avoid another useless fight over its fiscal rules and instead use political capital to foster growth“, Bruegel Institute, 25 Ιουνίου.   As the European Council meets in Brussels this week, the big debate on what a new policy deal for Europe could look like has re-emerged. Opponents group themselves around the famous “stability” vs “growth” …Read More

Buti, M., Mohl, Ph., (2014), “Lacklustre investment in the Eurozone: Is there a puzzle?”, www.voxeu.org, 4 Ιουνίου. Investment in the Eurozone is forecast to remain below trend until 2015, with a particularly large shortfall in the periphery. Low investment reduces aggregate demand, thus lowering short-term growth, and it also hampers medium-term growth through its effect on the capital stock. This article highlights three causes of low Eurozone investment – reduced …Read More

Krusell, P. & Smith, T. (2014) “Is Piketty’s ‘Second Law of Capitalism’ fundamental?“, VoxEU Organisation, 01 Ιουνίου.   Thomas Piketty’s new book has been widely praised for its empirical contribution, but his prediction of rising inequality rests on economic theory. This column argues that Piketty’s pessimistic forecast is based on an extreme – and unrealistic – assumption about households’ saving behaviour. According to standard theory, the wealth–income ratio would increase …Read More