The Editors: “Europe’s Crazy Finance Tax“, Bloomberg View, 02 Νοεμβρίου 2014. Wrangling among the 11 euro-region nations planning to tax financial transactions is further evidence, if any were needed, that the levy is a bad idea that should be abandoned. The European Commission acknowledges that the latest version of its planned financial transactions tax (or Tobin tax, or Robin Hood tax, if you prefer) isn’t the best option. That, …Read More
Fixing Europe in the short and long run: The European Federal Institute
Guiso, L. & Morelli, M. (2014) “Fixing Europe in the short and long run: The European Federal Institute“, VoxEU Organisation, 03 Νοεμβρίου. Eurozone countries need to stop the stagnation and improve their management of future crises. In this column, the authors argue that both issues should be addressed simultaneously. To achieve this goal, they propose the creation of a European Federal Institute. This Institute would coordinate short-run, antirecession measures, …Read More
German austerity is not only damaging the Eurozone, but is also starving the country of its own much needed investment
Hancké, Β. (2014) “German austerity is not only damaging the Eurozone, but is also starving the country of its own much needed investment“, LSE EUROPP, 03 Νοεμβρίου. A common argument in the context of the Eurozone’s economic problems is that Germany should pursue a more expansive fiscal policy to help generate growth in the rest of the single currency area. Bob Hancké writes, however, that while such a strategy …Read More
Ξύπνα, Ευρώπη
Σόρος, Τζ. (2014) “Ξύπνα, Ευρώπη“, The Athens Review of Books, 03 Νοεμβρίου. Το άρθρο αυτό δημοσιεύεται στην ARB κατόπιν αδείας της PublicAffairs, του ομίλου The Perseus Books Group. Πρόκειται να δημοσιευθεί στην NewYorkReviewofBooksτης 20ής Νοεμβρίου — Μετάφραση: Αναστασία Μωράκη Η Ευρώπη βρίσκεται σήμερα αντιμέτωπη με μια πρόκληση από την πλευρά της Ρωσίας, η οποία απειλεί την ίδια της την ύπαρξη. Ούτε οι ευρωπαίοι ηγέτες αλλά ούτε και οι πολίτες …Read More
Doing Business 2015: Going Beyond Efficiency, Comparing Business Regulations for Domestic Firms in 189 Economies
Doing Business 2015: Going Beyond Efficiency, Comparing Business Regulations for Domestic Firms in 189 Economies, A World Bank Group Flagship Report, 29 Οκτωβρίου. Doing Business 2015: Going Beyond Efficiency, a World Bank Group flagship publication, is the 12th in a series of annual reports measuring the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property …Read More
Europe’s Deadly Fiscal Paralysis
Bloomberg Editors (2014) “Europe’s Deadly Fiscal Paralysis“, Bloomberg View, 31 Οκτωβρίου. Quarrels over European Union budget policy don’t amount to much in themselves. Yet they demonstrate a pathology whose importance is hard to exaggerate. If growth in the euro area is not restored, the future of the union itself will be in jeopardy. Instead of grappling with this, however, Europe’s leaders are endlessly engaged with trivialities. Anti-EU sentiment has …Read More
The EU’s REFIT strategy: a new bureaucracy in the service of competitiveness?
Van den Abeele, E. (2014) “The EU’s REFIT strategy: a new bureaucracy in the service of competitiveness?“, European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), Working Paper 2014.05, Οκτώβριος. This Working Paper provides a clear but critical assessment of the EU’s process of simplification and qualitative improvement of the ‘acquis’, a process originally known as ‘Better Law-making’, subsequently as ‘Smart regulation’ and, in its latest incarnation, as ‘Regulatory Fitness and Performance (REFIT)’. …Read More
Why Austerity Is Contagious
Janssen, R. (2014) “Why Austerity Is Contagious“, Social Europe Journal, 27 Οκτωβρίου. Austerity is contagious: The case of France France is finding itself between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, with 54% of companies reporting in the third quarter 2014 that they find activity constrained by a lack of customers, the main problem is clearly on the side of demand. On the other hand, its …Read More
The Wrath of Draghi: First German Bank Hits Savers with Negative Interest Rate
Richter, W. (2014) “The Wrath of Draghi: First German Bank Hits Savers with Negative Interest Rate“, ΘZeroHedge, 30 Οκτωβρίου. Deutsche Skatbank, a division of VR-Bank Altenburger Land, which was founded in 1859, is not the biggest bank in Germany, but it’s the first bank to confirm what German savers have been dreading for a while: the wrath of Draghi. Retail and business customers with over €500,000 on deposit as …Read More
Reflections on the new ‘Secular Stagnation hypothesis’
Summers, L. (2014) “Reflections on the new ‘Secular Stagnation hypothesis’“, VoxEU Organisation, 30 Οκτωβρίου. The notion that Europe and other advanced economies are suffering secular stagnation is gaining traction. This column by Larry Summers – first published in the Vox eBook “Secular Stagnation: Facts, Causes and Cures” – explains the idea. It argues that a decline in the full-employment real interest rate coupled with low inflation could indefinitely prevent …Read More