Papadimas Lefteris, (2018), “Greece’s slow reforms may delay return of bond profits – sources”, Reuters, 20 November Athens, Nov 20 (Reuters) – Greece is at risk of missing a first tranche of ECB profit returns on Greek bond holdings due to delays in the pace of privatisations despite over-performance on its fiscal targets, sources told Reuters on Tuesday. About 4.8 billion euros ($5.48 billion) of profits from Greek bonds held by …Read More
Impact of Italy’s Draft Budget on Growth and Fiscal Solvency
Olivier Blanchard, Álvaro Leandro, Silvia Merler and Jeromin Zettelmeyer, (2018), “Impact of Italy’s Draft Budget on Growth and Fiscal Solvency”, Peterson Institute for International Economics, Policy Brief 18-24, November A bitter standoff is under way between Italy’s new government and the European Commission over the Commission’s objections to Italy’s proposed expansionary budget for 2019. In this Policy Brief, the authors look at the merits of fiscal expansion, concluding that Italy’s …Read More
Euro Area Paves the Way for Easier Sovereign Debt Restructurings
Nikos Chrysoloras and Viktoria Dendrinou, (2018), “Euro Area Paves the Way for Easier Sovereign Debt Restructurings”, Bloomberg, 19 November A proposal to simplify euro-area sovereign debt restructurings has gained broad support among members of the common currency, Portuguese Finance Minister Mario Centeno said, as governments move to bolster its tools after the last credit crisis nearly tore the 19-nation bloc apart. The plan envisages strengthening collective action clauses, which have been mandatory …Read More
The ECB should extend its bond-buying programme
Melvyn Krauss, (2018), “The ECB should extend its bond-buying programme”, Financial Times, 18 November The European Central Bank is signalling that it intends to end its €2.5tn quantitative easing programme next month. Mario Draghi, ECB president, made that clear at the bank’s monthly meeting in October. Yet the recent eurozone growth numbers were the weakest since 2014. The danger for the ECB is that it will have to start QE up again …Read More
Migration Into Europe: A Long-Term Solution?
Branko Milanovic, (2018), “Migration Into Europe: A Long-Term Solution?”, Social Europe, 19 November Thus, Europe faces a long-term issue and the following dilemma. As we just saw, if there is globalization and countries involved in globalization have highly uneven incomes, there must be migration. You can stop migration only if you give up on globalization by closing off national borders, or help emitting countries get as rich as Western Europe. The …Read More
Tackling the free rider problem in the EMU does not have to be a zero-sum game: Italy’s budget deficit case
Corrado Macchiarelli, (2018), “Tackling the free rider problem in the EMU does not have to be a zero-sum game: Italy’s budget deficit case”, LSE EUROPP blog, 20 November The biggest weakness in the bloc is now politics and the current approach to the Italian crisis is not going to help the popularity of either the EU or the single currency. As many have underlined, democratic expectations cannot be set at …Read More
The Brexit withdrawal agreement
Silvia Merler, (2018), “The Brexit withdrawal agreement”, Bruegel, 19 November On November 14th the UK government cabinet approved the draft text of the withdrawal agreement, the deal reached between EU and UK negotiators. The decision was followed the next day by the resignations of several members of Parliament. We review the first reactions in the blogosphere. Martin Wolf writes that Theresa May’s terrible Brexit deal has united the UK in horror. …Read More
The Populist Conjuncture: Legitimation Crisis in the Age of Globalized Capitalism
Ibsen, M. F. (2018), “The Populist Conjuncture: Legitimation Crisis in the Age of Globalized Capitalism”, Political Studies, 0032321718810311, 7 November This article argues that the theory of legitimation crisis developed by Offe and Habermas offers an instructive theoretical framework for explaining the current surge of populism across the West. The article argues that this populist resurgence is indicative of a profound legitimation crisis of the Western welfare state, which ultimately …Read More
Populism and Civil Society
Tito Boeri, Prachi Mishra, Chris Papageorgiou and Antonio Spilimbergo, (2018), “Populism and Civil Society”, IMF, Working Paper No. 18/245, 16 November Populists claim to be the only legitimate representative of the people. Does it mean that there is no space for civil society? The issue is important because since Tocqueville (1835), associations and civil society have been recognized as a key factor in a healthy liberal democracy. We ask two …Read More
Italy stand-off raises concern of contagion
Kate Allen, (2018), “Italy stand-off raises concern of contagion”, Financial Times, 19 November What threat do Italy’s bond market woes pose to the yields on other eurozone nations’ debt? Yields on Italian bonds have been ratcheting up since a populist Eurosceptic coalition took power in May. The government’s recent agreement of an aggressive budget plan for 2019 has provided a further upward momentum, leading to a fresh sell-off of Italian debt …Read More