Ewing, J. (2015) “As Cyprus Recovers From Banking Crisis, Deep Scars Remain“, The New York Times: International Business, 16 Μαρτίου. The financial world has pretty much moved on since Cyprus was briefly the epicenter of market anxiety. Two years ago this month, the country’s banks failed en masse, A.T.M.s were rationing cash, and the integrity of the eurozone hung in the balance. But after a contentious, internationally brokered “bail-in,’’ …Read More
Marino, B. (2015) “Liberal-democratic parties face unprecedented challenges, but remain a viable part of European party systems“, LSE EUROPP, 18 Μαρτίου. Liberal-democratic parties have been a stable feature of several party systems in Europe, but in recent years parties such as the Liberal Democrats in the UK and the FDP in Germany have experienced significant downturns in support. Bruno Marino assesses the challenges that such parties now face in …Read More
Vives, X. (2015) “A framework for banking structural reform, VoxEU Organisation, 17 Μαρτίου. The 2007–08 crisis revealed regulatory failures that had allowed the shadow banking system and systemic risk to grow unchecked. This column evaluates recent proposals to reform the banking industry. Although appropriate pricing of risk should make activity restrictions redundant, there may nevertheless be complementarities between these two approaches. Ring-fencing may make banking groups more easily resolvable …Read More
Bartelsman, E., di Mauro, F. & Dorrucci, E. (2015) “Eurozone rebalancing: Are we on the right track for growth? Insights from the CompNet micro-based data“, VoxEU Organisation, 17 Μαρτίου. The shallow growth response to Eurozone rebalancing policies could point towards structural impediments. To uncover such impediments and design effective structural reforms, it is necessary to focus on the path from micro behaviour to macro outcomes. This column argues that …Read More
Nelson, Β., Pinter, G. & Theodoridis, K. (2015) “Does a surprise tightening of monetary policy expand shadow banking?“, VoxEU Organisation, 16 Μαρτίου. There has been an extensive debate over whether central banks should raise interest rates to ‘lean against’ the build-up of leverage in the financial system. This column reports on empirical evidence showing that, in contrast to the conventional view, surprise monetary contractions have tended to increase shadow …Read More
Terzi, Α. (2015) “Is the ECB sacrificing reforms on the altar of inflation? – QE and its impact on structural reform efforts“, Bruegel Institute, 13 Μαρτίου. Roughly one month ago, Mario Draghi announced that the European Central Bank (ECB) would activate a large programme of sovereign bonds purchases (QE), in an effort to re-anchor euro area inflation expectations to the 2% target. In the run up to that decision …Read More
Glendinning, S. (2015) ‘Neoliberal’ variants have dominated Europe’s history but they have paved the way for a new conception of human progress, LSE EUROPP, 16 Μαρτίου. The term ‘neoliberalism’ is frequently used in contemporary political discussions, but while polemically effective, conceptually it lacks rigour. Simon Glendinning writes on the relationship between the concept and classical liberalism. He argues that by defining neoliberalism in terms of this relationship it becomes …Read More
Angeletos, G. M., Collard, F. & Dellas, H. (2015) “Confidence, aggregate demand, and the business cycle: A new framework, VoxEU Organisation, 16 Μαρτίου. The Global Crisis has forced a revaluation of the standard macroeconomic models in use worldwide. This column discusses an enrichment that include a formal concept of ‘confidence’ about the short-medium term economic outlook – one that relates to market psychology rather than expectations about technology and …Read More
IMF Country Report No. 15/72: ICELAND – STAFF REPORT FOR THE 2014 ARTICLE IV CONSULTATION AND FIFTH POST-PROGRAM MONITORING DISCUSSIONS, 16 Μαρτίου 2015. KEY ISSUES Iceland has reached a relatively strong macroeconomic position with good growth prospects. But crisis legacies are still being unwound, including high debt and a large balance of payments (BOP) overhang contained by capital controls. Amidst public pressure for a return to normalcy, policies remain …Read More
Amiel, D. & Paul-Adrien, H. (2015) “Is there an easy way out? Private marketable debt and its implications for a Eurozone break-up“, VoxEU Organisation, 15 Μαρτίου. As the Eurozone crisis lingers on, euro exit is now being debated in ‘core’ as well as ‘periphery’ countries. This column examines the potential costs of euro exit, using France as an example. The authors estimate that 30% of private marketable debt would …Read More
