Acemoglu, D., Naidu, S., Robinson, A. J. & Restrepo, P. (2014) “Democracy causes economic development?“, VoxEU Organisation, 19 Μαΐου.   Many analysts view democracy as a neutral or negative factor for growth. This column discusses new evidence showing that democracy has a robust and sizable pro-growth effect. The central estimates suggest that a country that switches from non-democracy to democracy achieves about 20% higher GDP per capita over the subsequent …Read More

Véron, N. (2014) “How unequal is the European Parliament’s representation?“, Bruegel Think Tank, 16 Μαΐου.   The European Parliament election of May 22-25, 2014 has several unprecedented features. It is the first election under the Lisbon Treaty. As a consequence, and for the first time, the main pan-European parties – including the center-right European Peoples’ Party (EPP) and the center-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) – are fielding lead candidates for …Read More

McDougall, O. & Mody, A. (2014) “Will voters turnout in the 2014 European parliamentary elections?”, Bruegel Think Tank, 16 Μαΐου.   The extent of voter turnout in the 2014 European Parliamentary (EP) election is widely viewed as a critical test for European democracy. Turnout in the EP elections has steadily declined over three decades from 62 percent in the first election in 1979 to 43 percent in the 2009 election. …Read More

Infelise, F. (2014) “Supporting Access to Finance by SMEs: Mapping the initiatives in five EU countries“, Financial Markets, ECMI Research Reports, CEPS, 23 Απριλίου.   This paper maps the initiatives to support access to finance for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that were available at national level in 2012 in the five biggest European economies (Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain). This mapping distinguishes initiatives promoted and financed primarily …Read More

Piedrafita, S. & Renman, V. (2014) “The ‘Personalisation’ of the European Elections: A half-hearted attempt to increase turnout and democratic legitimacy?“, Politics and Institutions, EPIN Papers, Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), 11 Απριλίου.   On May 22nd to the 25th, elections to the European Parliament are taking place throughout the European Union. Following a recent EP initiative, most of the European political parties have selected top candidates for the position …Read More