Pistor, K., (2014), “German Court decision: Legal authority and deep power implications”, VoxEU, 26 Φεβρουαρίου Who wields supreme power over the ECB? This column analyses the recent ruling by the German Constitutional Court that the ECB cannot act as lender of last resort. Although seemingly couched by the referral of this decision to the European Court of Justice, this is a bid for power and the return to the pre-crisis …Read More
Monetary Developments in the Euro Area, January 2014
European Central Bank (2014), “Monetary Developments in the Euro Area, January 2014”, Press Release, Φεβρουάριος. The annual growth rate of the broad monetary aggregate M3 increased to 1.2% in January 2014, from 1.0% in December 2013. The three-month average of the annual growth rates of M3 in the period from November 2013 to January 2014 stood at 1.2%, compared with 1.3% in the period from October 2013 to December 2013. Σχετικές Αναρτήσεις …Read More
European Vacancy Monitor No 12
European Commission (2014), European Vacancy Monitor No 12, Brussels The European Vacancy Monitor is published quarterly by DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion of the European Commission. This is a publication within the Europe 2020 flagship initiative ‘An Agenda for New Skills and Jobs’ feeding into the ‘European Skills Panorama’. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission may be held responsible for the use that may …Read More
Taming Europe’s Banks
Rocard, M., (2014), “Taming Europe’s Banks”, Project Syndicate, 25 Φεβρουαρίου. Last month, the European Commission unveiled its much-anticipated blueprint for banking reform, aimed at reining in risk-taking by the European Union’s largest banks. But the proposal has met significant resistance, with some warning that it would erode European banks’ competitiveness, and others arguing that it is inadequate to mitigate banking risks effectively. How this debate unfolds will have profound implications …Read More
Greece’s health crisis: from austerity to denialism
Kentikelenis, A., Karanikolos, M., Reeves, A., McKee, M., and Stuckler,D., (2014), “Greece’s health crisis: from austerity to denialism”, The Lancet, Volume 383, Issue 9918, Pages 748 – 753, 22 Φεβρουαρίου. Greece’s economic crisis has deepened since it was bailed out by the international community in 2010. The country underwent the sixth consecutive year of economic contraction in 2013, with its economy shrinking by 20% between 2008 and 2012, and anaemic …Read More
European banks: Between a rock (need of more capital) and a hard place (low profitability)
Onado, M., (2014), “European banks: Between a rock (need of more capital) and a hard place (low profitability)”, VoxEU, 23 Φεβρουαρίου. The financial crisis has put to the forefront the long-debated issue of banks’ capital adequacy, showing that banks were much more fragile than they (and their regulators) pretended, also because they were allowed to push their leverage to levels much higher than any industrial company, or even a hedge …Read More
Fiscal Integration in the Eurozone: Economic Effects of Two Key Scenarios
Dolls, Μ., Fuest, C., Neumann, D. and Peichl, A., (2014), “Fiscal Integration in the Eurozone: Economic Effects of Two Key Scenarios”, EUROMOD Working Paper 1/14, Ιανουάριος. The 2008-09 crisis has shown that some euro area member countries were unable to sufficiently stabilize their economies which has given rise to a debate about deeper fiscal integration in Europe. In this paper, we analyze the redistributive and stabilizing effects of two scenarios …Read More
Changing trade patterns, unchanging European and global governance
O‘Neill, J. and Terzi, Al., (2014), “Changing trade patterns, unchanging European and global governance”, Bruegel, 25 Φεβρουαρίου. The world economy is going through its biggest transformation in a relatively short space time. There have been many explanations for this phenomenon but the unprecedented scale and pace of this change and, most crucially, its implications, still seems little understood. In turn, there has been little preparation for, or adjustment to, this …Read More
On German Public Opinion And Illusional ECB Power
Bibow, J., (2014), “On German Public Opinion And Illusional ECB Power”, Social Europe Journal, 24 Φεβρουαρίου. After taking a short breather in late January-early February, the markets now seem to be back in ‘happy mode’. Whether the news on the economic recovery is good or bad doesn’t really matter. The current convention is that growth acceleration is under way. That emerging markets had become key drivers of global growth was …Read More
The Eurozone’s Imperfect Banking Union
Greene, M., (2014), “The Eurozone’s Imperfect Banking Union”, Open Markets, 20 Φεβρουαρίου. The ECB is currently gearing up to look under the hood of Eurozone’s 128 largest banks in an asset quality review and stress test before taking over supervision of the biggest banks. There is immense political pressure on the ECB from national supervisors to not find any big capital holes in the banks. If big capital holes were …Read More