OECD tax burdens on wages rising without tax rate increases, OECD Publications, Απρίλιος 2015. Taxes on wages have risen by about 1 percentage point for the average worker in OECD countries between 2010 and 2014 even though the majority of governments did not increase statutory income tax rates, according to a new OECD report. Taxing Wages 2015 says the tax burden has increased in 23 OECD countries and fallen …Read More
Menon, A. (2015) “The Five Things Everyone Should Know About the European Union“, Social Europe Journal, 08 Απριλίου. Where to start when asked, in five points, to encapsulate an institution as complex, as contested, as frequently misunderstood and indeed as deliberately misrepresented as the European Union? Perhaps with the statement that both its supporters and detractors exaggerate their cases. Rather than being the all-powerful behemoth frequently alluded to by …Read More
Aksoy, Y., Basso, H., Grasl, T. & Smith, R. (2015) “Demographic structure and the macroeconomy“, VoxEU Organisation, 08 Απριλίου. The disappointing recovery after the crisis has sparked renewed interest in the medium-run outlook of advanced economies. Lower population growth and its impact on labour supply gained widespread prominence. This column takes a more general view identifying the impact of the evolution of demographic structure, or the entire age profile, …Read More
Galbraith, K. J. (2015) “The Real Thing: An Anti-austerity European Government“, Social Europe Journal, 07 Απριλίου. I have just come from Athens where I have, for the last several days, had the high privilege of working with the government of Greece, and especially with the Finance Minister, my very good friend, Yanis Varoufakis. I’ve actually had two occasions, so far, to observe the drama that’s unfolding in Europe from …Read More
Kern, A. (2015) “Viva la competencia“, The European Magazine, 27 Μαρτίου. Argentina was once the economic pride of the southern hemisphere. There is barely anything left after a half-century of misrule. Europe can (and must) learn from this cautionary tale. The distance between Santiago de Chile and Bueneos Aires is only one hour flying time: an hour that separates the future from the past. One travels from an emerging …Read More
Herweg, F. & Müller, D. (2015) “Price discrimination by big manufacturers: Supporting arguments for its prohibition by European competition law“, VoxEU Organisation, 07 Απριλίου. Manufacturers discriminating among retailers is an important issue in competition policy. Specifically, the EU allows quantity discounts but forbids discriminatory discounts – a policy that does not jive with standard economic analysis which suggests that banning price discrimination improves allocative efficiency and typically also raises …Read More
European Commission, Quarterly Report on the Euro Area, Vol. 14, No. 1(2015), DG for Economic and Financial Affairs, Vol. 14, No. 1, Απρίλιος 2015. Marco Buti: Editorial According to the European Commission’s latest winter forecast published in February, the economies of all euro area Member States are expected to grow again for the first time since 2007. The aggregate real GDP growth rate of the euro area was revised …Read More
Carnot, N. & Evans, P. (2015) “Income insurance: a theoretical exercise with empirical application for the euro area“, European Commission, Economic and Financial Affairs, European Economy – Economic Papers 546, Μάρτιος. This paper examines whether hypothetical macroeconomic insurance schemes of various kinds could improve the degree of cyclical income stabilisation in the euro area. We review the potential issues, the underlying trade-offs and the necessary conditions for such schemes …Read More
Steinbach, A. (2015) “The Mutualization of Sovereign Debt: Comparing the American Past and the European Present“. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, Gender, Work And Organization, 07 Απριλίου. This study identifies commonalities between two historical incidents of debt assumption – in the United States in 1791 and in present-day Europe. By comparing the interests and behaviour of key players in these two incidents, we find three major parallels: first, …Read More
Högenauer, A. L. & Neuhold, C. (2015) “Parliamentary administrations are an important pillar in the parliamentary scrutiny of EU affairs“, LSE EUROPP, 03 Απριλίου. National parliaments were given new powers to scrutinise EU legislation in the Treaty of Lisbon. As Anna-Lena Högenauer and Christine Neuhold write, the intention was to bring EU issues closer to European citizens, however one largely overlooked feature is the role of parliamentary bureaucracies in …Read More
