Spence, Michael, (2017), “Reprieve or Reform in Europe?”, Project Syndicate, 29 April With the pro-EU Macron seemingly headed toward the Élysée Palace – the establishment candidates on the right and the left who lost in the first round have already endorsed him – the immediate threat to the EU and the eurozone seems to have subsided. But this is no time for complacency. Unless Europe addresses flaws in growth patterns …Read More
From EU Governance of Crisis to Crisis of EU Governance: Regulatory Failure, Redistributive Conflict and Eurosceptic Publics
Borzel, Tanja, A., (2016), ” From EU Governance of Crisis to Crisis of EU Governance: Regulatory Failure, Redistributive Conflict and Eurosceptic Publics”, Journal of Common Market Studies 54(S1), 8-31, 16 August Financial crisis, euro crisis, Greek crisis, Crimean crisis, Ukraine crisis, Syria crisis, migration crisis – even the greatest optimist cannot deny that Europe has been suffering through a whole series of crises ever since the Lehman Brothers bank collapsed …Read More
Drivers of the post-crisis slump in the Eurozone and the US
Kollmann, Robert, Pataracchia, Beatrice, Raciborski, Rafal, Ratto, Marco, Roeger, Werner, Vogel, Lukas, (2017), “Drivers of the post-crisis slump in the Eurozone and the US “, VoxEU, 27 April The Global Crisis led to a sharp contraction and long-lasting slump in both Eurozone and US real activity, but the post-crisis adjustment in the Eurozone and the US shows striking differences. This column argues that financial shocks were key determinants of the …Read More
Internal devaluation in currency unions: the role of trade costs and taxes
Petroulakis, Filippos, (2017), “Internal devaluation in currency unions: the role of trade costs and taxes”, European Central Bank Working Paper Series No 2049, April This paper studies export adjustment to negative shocks in currency unions. I consider the hitherto ignored role of trade costs and taxes in internal devaluations, which have been brought to the fore of international policy during the recent euro periphery crisis. Trade costs can limit the …Read More
Draghi’s Right to Keep His Foot on the Gas
Giugliano, Ferdinando, (2017), “Draghi’s Right to Keep His Foot on the Gas”, Bloomberg View, 28 April 2017 Since becoming president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi has rarely looked as relaxed as he did in Thursday’s press conference. It’s not hard to see why: The euro-zone economy is gathering speed, confidence is soaring, and unemployment is tumbling. The recovery is also spreading across the region, reducing the risk that …Read More
Surveying Corporate Investment Activities, Needs and Financing in the EU
European Investment Bank Investment Survey 2016/2017 (EIBIS), (2017), “Surveying Corporate Investment Activities, Needs and Financing in the EU”, European Investment Bank (EIB), 10 April 2017 Business investment is recovering across Europe. SMEs and firms active in the construction sector and service sector expect an expansion from relatively low levels of investment activities; whereas large firms, manufacturing firms and firms active in the infrastructure sector expect an expansion from already relatively …Read More
For A Treaty Democratizing Euro Area Governance
Hennette, Stéphanie, Sacriste, Thomas Piketty Guillaume, Vauchez, Antoine, (2017), “For A Treaty Democratizing Euro Area Governance”, Social Europe, 27 April Over the last ten years of economic and financial crisis, a new centre of European power has taken shape: the ‘government’ of the Euro Area. The expression may seem badly chosen as it remains hard to identify the democratically accountable ‘institution’ which today implements European economic policies. We are indeed aiming …Read More
Why Europe Still Needs Cash
Mersch, Yves, (2017), “Why Europe Still Needs Cash”, Project Syndicate, 26 April Non-cash payment options have been proliferating in recent years. Credit cards, online transfers, and direct-debit payments are already well established. Now, smartphone-enabled digital-payment solutions and mobile wallets are also gaining ground. The emergence of potentially disruptive innovations like distributed ledger technologies indicate that further and possibly fundamental change may be on the horizon. Independent of these new and incipient …Read More
The global decline in the labour income share: is capital the answer to Germany’s current account surplus?
Berger, Ennet, Wolff, Guntram B., (2017), “The global decline in the labour income share: is capital the answer to Germany’s current account surplus?”, Bruegel, 26 April There are two broad views of adjustment in Europe’s economic and monetary union. The first is that the divergence of competitiveness in the euro area is the fault of the peripheral countries, which were guilty of “losing their competitiveness simply by becoming too expensive” prior …Read More
Exchange rate prediction redux
Cheung, Yin-Wong, Chinn, Menzie , Pascual, Antonio Garcia, Zhang, Yi, (2017), “Exchange rate prediction redux”, Vox Eu, 27 April Over the past decade, advanced economy exchange rates have exhibited substantial variability, even as conventional empirical determinants – such as interest rates and inflation – have remained fairly stable. At the same, the Global Crisis was associated with unprecedented levels of risk and illiquidity, with obvious effects on financial markets. These developments …Read More