Constantinescu, C., Mattoo, A. & Ruta, M. (2015) “Explaining the global trade slowdown“, VoxEU Organisation, 18 Ιανουαρίου. Not only is world trade lower than its pre-Crisis level, but it is also growing slower than GDP. This column examines the relationship between trade and GDP in the last four decades. The findings indicate that roughly half of the slowdown is driven by structural rather than cyclical factors. Trade itself has …Read More
Greece will remain in the euro for now
Odendahl, C. & Tilford, S. (2015) “Greece will remain in the euro for now“, Centre for European Reform, 16 Ιανουαρίου. Greece will hold a snap election on January 25th, after the country’s parliament failed to elect a new president with the necessary majority. Syriza, a left-wing party (or rather a coalition of parties) led by Alexis Tsipras, currently leads the polls. Given Syriza’s outspoken criticism of Greek economic and …Read More
Greek Elections, Democracy, Political Trilemma, and all that
Rodrik, D. (2015) “Greek Elections, Democracy, Political Trilemma, and all that“, Social Europe Journal, 08 Ιανουαρίου. Two-and-a-half years ago I wrote a short piece titled “The End of the World as We Know It” which began like this: “Consider the following scenario. After a victory by the left-wing Syriza party, Greece’s new government announces that it wants to renegotiate the terms of its agreement with the International Monetary Fund and the …Read More
We should be wary of removing the ECB from the troika to facilitate the use of outright monetary transactions
Otero Iglesias, Μ. (2015) “We should be wary of removing the ECB from the troika to facilitate the use of outright monetary transactions“, LSE EUROPP, 19 Ιανουαρίου. A key legal debate in the context of the Eurozone crisis is whether so called ‘Outright Monetary Transactions’(OMT), which would allow the European Central Bank (ECB) to buy unlimited numbers of government bonds in secondary markets, are compatible with European law. The …Read More
SNB decision tells us that the crisis in entering a new phase
Mitchell, B. (2015) “SNB decision tells us that the crisis in entering a new phase“, Bill Mitchell Blog, 19 Ιανουαρίου. Switzerland – home of the secret bank vaults, which house treasures stolen from people (particularly the Jewish victims) by the Nazis during WW2 and ill-gotten cash by capitalists who wish to evade scrutiny of prudential and tax authorities of their domiciled nations. Now it is the canary, which has …Read More
What Will Populism Do To Europe?
Świeboda, P. (2015) “What Will Populism Do To Europe?“, Social Europe Journal, 15 Ιανουαρίου. There has been much wishful thinking in Europe that populism will vanish once growth rates pick up. Those who have believed in this unlikely miracle tended to assume that the populist upsurge is a natural reaction to economic misery brought about by the crisis. In this, they are only partly right. Populism is as much …Read More
Why a Grexit is more costly for Germany than a default inside the euro area – Contrary to the IFO institute, we conclude that German losses on both official and private claims would be much higher if Greece exits the euro
Darvas, Z. & Hüttl, P. (2015) “Why a Grexit is more costly for Germany than a default inside the euro area – Contrary to the IFO institute, we conclude that German losses on both official and private claims would be much higher if Greece exits the euro“, Bruegel Institute, 16 Ιανουαρίου. A few days ago the influential IFO Institute published a short paper suggesting that a Greek default inside …Read More
From Welfare State To Innovation State
Rodrik, D. (2015) “From Welfare State To Innovation State, Social Europe Journal, 15 Ιανουαρίου. A specter is haunting the world economy – the specter of job-killing technology. How this challenge is met will determine the fate of the world’s market economies and democratic polities, in much the same way that Europe’s response to the rise of the socialist movement during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries shaped the …Read More
Zoning out – Why leaving the euro would still be bad for both Greece and the currency area
Zoning out – Why leaving the euro would still be bad for both Greece and the currency area, The Economist, 17 Ιανουαρίου 2015. In 2012 Greece held two elections which might have led to its exit from the euro zone. In the event, that was avoided—a good thing since the costs of a “Grexit” would almost certainly have outweighed any gains, not only for Greece but for the entire …Read More
Tear down the trade-policy silos! Or how the servicification of manufacturing makes divides in trade policymaking irrelevant
Lodefalk, Μ. (2015) “Tear down the trade-policy silos! Or how the servicification of manufacturing makes divides in trade policymaking irrelevant“, VoxEU Organisation, 16 Ιανουαρίου. The manufacturing sector in OECD countries increasingly buys, produces, sells and exports services. This is now known as the servicification of manufacturing. This column, using firm-level data from Sweden, shows that as firms’ share of in-house services increases, so does their export intensity. The increasing …Read More