Huertas, T. & Nieto, J. M. (2014) “How Much is Enough? The Case of the Resolution Fund in Europe“, Vox: Research-Based Policy Analysis & Commentary from Leading Economists, 18 Μαρτίου. The European Resolution Fund is intended to reach €55 billion – much less than the amount of public assistance required by individual institutions during the recent financial crisis. This column argues that the Resolution Fund can nevertheless be large …Read More
Spellman, J. (2014) “EU Launches Long-Awaited Overhaul of Megabank Regulation“, The European Institute, EI Blog, Ιανουάριος. The European Union’s long-delayed overhaul of megabank regulation now proposes curtailing or banning the riskiest financial activities in hopes of avoiding a repeat of the 2007-2009 global financial system meltdown. Until now, the post-crisis EU banking reforms had not acted to rein in “too big to fail” banks, focusing instead on establishing a …Read More
Biggs, M. & Mayer, T. (2014) “Latvia and Greece: Less is More“, Economic Policy, CEPS High-Briefs, 12 Φεβρουαρίου 2014 Key Points: Despite considerable differences, there were also many similarities in economic performance between Latvia and Greece before their respective adjustment crises. After the immediate crisis, however, economic activity rebounded sharply in Latvia but continued to contract in Greece. This paper argues that this difference was due primarily to developments in …Read More
De Grauwe, P. (2014) “Why the ECJ Should Reject the German Constitutional Court’s Ruling“, Social Europe Journal, 11 Μαρτίου 2014. Despite having a positive effect on the economic situation within the Eurozone, the European Central Bank’s Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) program has proved controversial, with the German Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe recently deeming it illegal under EU law. Paul De Grauwe argues that the ruling reflects a serious misunderstanding of central banking …Read More
Horne, P. (2014) “The Euro at Age 15 – Is it a Reserve Currency Yet?”, The European Institute, Φεβρουάριος 2014. The euro was welcomed at birth on Jan. 1, 1999, as a new financial currency (coins and banknotes were issued three years later) and hoped by its promoters to be an alternative to the dollar, which had reigned as the world’s primary reserve currency since the 1944 Bretton Woods agreement. …Read More
Βαρουφάκης, Γ. (2014) “If Scotland, why not Greece?“, Yannis Varoufakis Thoughts for the post-2008 World, 10 Μαρτίου Why an independent Scotland should get out of sterling, but Greece should not volunteer to exit the Eurozone Scotland should state its intention to decouple from sterling, once independent, rather than petitioning for a continuation of its subservient role in an asymmetrical sterling union. Or so I argued in the Scottish Times in ‘Scotland …Read More
Veron, N., (2014), “Tectonic shifts – banking union is a long-term process that will dramatically reshape Europe’s financial system”, Bruegel, 7 Μαρτίου. On June 29, 2012, the leaders of euro area countries set in motion what is now universally known as European banking union, or the transfer of banking policy from the national to the European level. The first step, the empowerment of the European Central Bank as the new …Read More
Mitchell, B., (2014), “Options for Europe – Part 40”, bilbo.economicoutlook.net, 6 Μαρτίου. The Christophersen Report of August 1990, which expressed the European Commission’s own viewpoint on how economic and fiscal policies might be coordinated, concluded that there “does not need to be a single economic policy in the same way as for monetary policy, and correspondingly there is not the same need for institutional change” (European Commission, 1990: 21). They …Read More
Ostry, J., Berg, A. Tsangarides, C., (2014), “Redistribution, inequality, and the sustainable growth: Reconsidering the evidence”, Voxeu.org, 6 Μαρτίου. Inequality has the potential to undermine growth. However, greater redistribution requires higher tax rates, which reduce incentives to work and save. Moreover, the evidence that inequality is bad for growth might simply reflect the fact that more unequal societies choose to redistribute more, and those efforts are antithetical to growth. This …Read More
Moqhadam, R., Teja, R. and Berkmen P., (2014), “Euro Area – Deflation Versus Lowflation”, iMFdirect Blog, 4 Μαρτίου. Recent talk about deflation in the euro area has evoked two kinds of reactions. On one side are those who worry about the associated prospect of prolonged recession. On the other are those who see the risk as overblown. This blog and the video below sift through both sides of the debate to argue …Read More
