Georgescu, Oana-Maria, Gross, Marco, Kapp, Daniel, Kok, Christoffer, (2017), “Do stress tests matter? Evidence from the 2014 and 2016 stress tests”, ECB, May 2017 Stress tests have been increasingly used in recent years by regulators to foster con- fidence in the banking sector by not only increasing its resilience via mandatory capital increases but also by enhancing transparency to allow investors to better discriminate between banks. In this study, using an …Read More

Merler, Silvia,Schoenmaker, Dirk, Véron, Nicolas, (2017), “How will Europe’s banking system respond to future challenges?”, Bruegel, 5 Μαΐου This episode of The Sound of Economics focuses on the banking system in Europe and some of the challenges it is facing. The financial crisis made it clear that more should be done to create conditions for a safer financial system. The EU has taken measures to do that, and one of …Read More

Andersson, Fredrik, Jonung, Lars, (2017), “Inflation targets and the benefits of an explicit tolerance band”, Vox Eu, 8 Μαΐου Since the early 1990s, a large number of central banks have adopted inflation targeting, with the operational goal for monetary policy commonly set as a single number. The official target for inflation is often combined with an explicit tolerance band within which inflation is allowed to fluctuate. In a recent survey, Hammond …Read More

Kriesi, Hanspeter, (2017), “The implications of the euro crisis for democracy”, Journal of European Public Policy, 28 Απριλίου The question of whether European democracy is in crisis is not new, but is posed in a new way in the shadow of the euro crisis. In the tradition of the studies of democratic support and disaffection and based on data from the European Social Survey 2012, this article analyses the conceptions and …Read More

Bignon, Vincent, Jobst, Clemens, (2017), “The real economic benefits of easy central bank access: Evidence from the Great French Wine Blight”, Vox Eu, 30 Απριλίου Who should have access to central bank refinancing and which assets should be eligible for central bank operations? As the Bank for International Settlements recently noted in 2013 and 2015, the answers to these questions vary widely among central banks (BIS 2013, BIS-CGFS 2015). Some …Read More

Balls, Ed, Stansbury, Anna, (2017), “Twenty years on: Is there still a case for Bank of England independence?”, Vox Eu, 1 Μαίου Twenty years ago on 6 May 1997, the Bank of England was made independent by the new Labour government. Alongside the world’s other major central banks, this independence was until recently unchallenged (and unchallengeable): a central pillar of the global consensus on macroeconomic stabilisation. But since the financial …Read More

 Spence, Michael, (2017), “Reprieve or Reform in Europe?”, Project Syndicate, 29 Απριλίου With the pro-EU Macron seemingly headed toward the Élysée Palace – the establishment candidates on the right and the left who lost in the first round have already endorsed him – the immediate threat to the EU and the eurozone seems to have subsided. But this is no time for complacency. Unless Europe addresses flaws in growth patterns …Read More