Giannitsis, Tassos and Zografakis Stavros, (2018), ” Crisis Management in Greece”, Macroeconomic Policy Institute, Study No. 58, January The aim of this study is to explore the impact of the crisis and crisis-induced policies on incomes, inequality and poverty in Greece, to detect the types of adjustment and to show why prevailing perceptions and attitudes caused a heavy economic, social and political cost. Based on extensive income and tax data …Read More
Why A Rebooted ESM Is Much Better Than An EMF
Marcello Minenna, (2018), “Why A Rebooted ESM Is Much Better Than An EMF“, Social Europe, 1 February After the controversial European Monetary Fund (EMF) proposal by the European Commission of December 2017, it’s clear that the debate about the future role and structure of the European Stability Mechanism is not over. It will only end when the Euro area benefits from a unified government bond market with a single risk-free …Read More
Berlusconi May Be Closer to a Majority in Italy Than Polls Show
Marco Bertacche and Chiara Albanese, (2018), “Berlusconi May Be Closer to a Majority in Italy Than Polls Show”, Bloomberg Politics, 5 Φεβρουαρίου Polls may be downplaying the chances that a center-right coalition backed by former Premier Silvio Berlusconi will win a majority in upcoming Italian elections on March 4. The so-called “shy-factor” in the polling process, which underestimates voting intentions for right-wing parties, and a new electoral law that favors …Read More
Monetary policy with negative nominal interest rates
Gauti Eggertsson, Ragnar Juelsrud, Ella Getz Wold, (2018), “Monetary policy with negative nominal interest rates”, Vox, 31 January Economists disagree on the macroeconomic role of negative interest rates. This column describes how, due to an apparent zero lower bound on deposit rates, negative policy rates have so far had very limited impact on the deposit rates faced by households and firms, and this lower bound on the deposit rate seems …Read More
Disagreement about Future Inflation: Understanding the Benefits of Inflation Targeting and Transparency
Steve Brito, Yan Carriere-Swallow, Bertrand Gruss, (2018), “Disagreement about Future Inflation: Understanding the Benefits of Inflation Targeting and Transparency”, IMF Working Papers, 25 January We estimate the determinants of disagreement about future inflation in a large and diverse sample of countries, focusing on the role of monetary policy frameworks. We offer novel insights that allow us to reconcile mixed findings in the literature on the benefits of inflation targeting regimes and central …Read More
Banking crisis, bail-ins and money holdings
Martin Brown, Ioanna S Evangelou and Helmut Stix, (2018), “Banking crisis, bail-ins and money holdings”, VoxEU, 1 February A cornerstone of new bank resolution policies across the world is the introduction of bail-ins to redistribute the costs of bank failures from taxpayers to bank creditors. This column uses the bail-in of two banks in Cyprus to examine how bank depositors react to this way of resolving a crisis. In the …Read More
Economic crisis and structural reforms in Southern Europe: Policy lessons
Paolo Manasse, Dimitris Katsikas, (2018), “Economic crisis and structural reforms in Southern Europe: Policy lessons”, Vox, 1 February The basic ingredients of the policy prescriptions in response to the euro area debt crisis were quite similar across Southern Europe. This column explores the economic, political, and institutional factors that differentially affected the success of these prescriptions from country to country. Policy timing and sequencing, the balance between fiscal consolidation and …Read More
Why Economic Recovery Won’t Defeat Populism
Andres Velasco, (2018), “Why Economic Recovery Won’t Defeat Populism”, Project Syndicate, 25 January During the last few years, a lively debate has taken place between advocates of economic and political/social explanations of populism. The issue is far from settled, but even if the economic explanation is right, it does not follow that the current global recovery will make much of a political difference. Relevant Posts Dani Rodrik, (2018), «In Defense …Read More
Reserve Currency Blocs: A Changing International Monetary System?
Camilo E Tovar Mora, Tania Mohd Nor, (2018), “Reserve Currency Blocs: A Changing International Monetary System?”, IMF, 24 January What is the extent of currency diversification in the international monetary system? How has it evolved over time? In this paper, we quantify the degree of currency diversification using regression methods of currency co-movements to determine the extent to which national currencies across the world belong to a reserve currency bloc. We …Read More
The ever-rising labour shortages in Europe
Zsolt Darvas, Ines Goncalves Raposo, (2018),“The ever-rising labour shortages in Europe”, Bruegel, 25 January Historically high labour shortages in most central-eastern and north-western EU countries suggest that the immigration of central Europeans to north-west EU countries did not take away jobs from local workers on a significant scale. But as labour shortages now exceed their pre-crisis peak, several urgent measures must be considered to help to combat the problem. Relevant …Read More