Giugliano, Ferdinando, (2019), “The French Are Finally Doing Better Than the Germans“, Project – Syndicate.org, July After a very tough 2018 for President Emmanuel Macron, France, the second-largest economy in the monetary union, is faring much better than most experts would have assumed. Its economic model – less reliant on exports than Germany – is proving more resilient to the dangers of a U.S.-inspired trade war. At the same time, the …Read More
Annual inflation down to 1.0% in the euro area
Eurostat, (2019), “Annual inflation down to 1.0% in the euro area“, July The euro area annual inflation rate was 1.0% in July 2019, down from 1.3% in June. A year earlier, the rate was 2.2%. European Union annual inflation was 1.4% in July 2019, down from 1.6% in June. A year earlier, the rate was 2.2%. These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. The …Read More
The End of “Peak Germany” and the Return of France
Rostowski Jacek and Das Arnab, (2019),”The End of “Peak Germany” and the Return of France“, Project – Syndicate. org, July Europe works best, as the old quip has it, with the Russians out, the Germans down, and the Americans in. Today’s new European order has the Russians up, the Germans on the way down, the Americans potentially bowing out, Britons struggling toward Brexit – and France rising. Relevant Posts Blanchard, …Read More
Euro area annual inflation down to 1.1%
Eurostat, (2019), “Euro area annual inflation down to 1.1%“, July Euro area annual inflation is expected to be 1.1% in July 2019, down from 1.3% in June according to a flash estimate from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Looking at the main components of euro area inflation, food, alcohol & tobacco is expected to have the highest annual rate in July (2.0%, compared with 1.6% in June), …Read More
Democratic European parties for a democratic EU
Castaldi, Roberto, Montani, Guido, (2019), “Democratic European parties for a democratic EU“, Social Europe, July In early July, following the elections to the European Parliament in lateMay, the European Council nominated Ursula von der Leyen as president of the European Commission. It did so after protracted intergovernmental negotiations, defying the Spitzenkandidaten procedure by which the principal political families represented in the parliament had presented to voters their favoured candidates for the post. It …Read More
Trade and investment in the global economy
Anderson, James, Larch, “Trade and investment in the global economy“, VoxEU CEPR Policy Portal, July Foreign direct investment has traditionally been viewed as a key driver of prosperity, and modern FDI has also become a vehicle for transferring intangible assets. This column uses a counterfactual experiment based on a hypothetical world with no outward or inward FDI to and from low-income and lower-middle-income countries to examine the effects of FDI …Read More
Household real income per capita up in both euro area and EU28
Eurostat, (2019), “Household real income per capita up in both euro area and EU28“, July In the euro area, in real terms, household income per capita increased by 0.6% in the first quarter of 2019, after an increase of 0.4% in the previous quarter. Household real consumption per capita increased by 0.4% in the first quarter of 2019, after an increase of 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2018. In the …Read More
European champion-ships: industrial champions and competition policy
Heim, Mathew, Midoes, Catarina, (2019), “European champion-ships: industrial champions and competition policy“, Bruegel.org, July This blog post investigates the debate on whether European competition rules should foster European industrial champions, or allow national champions to grow to a European scale. It explores the criteria that one would intuitively ascribe to industrial champions, illustrating the difficulties in defining either ‘European’ or ‘Champion’. It then conducts a brief look into whether EU …Read More
The waking giant goes back to sleep: European integration in the Greek elections
Verney, Susannah, (2019)”The waking giant goes back to sleep: European integration in the Greek elections“, Blogs Lse, July The prospect of Greece leaving the eurozone once dominated the country’s political agenda. Yet as Susannah Verney writes, in the 2019 Greek elections, relations with the EU were simply not an issue. She argues this quick change in the political climate demonstrates that unlike in the UK, Greek citizens were not motivated by a …Read More
Lagarde’s ECB Checklist
Gerlach, Stefan, (2019), “Lagarde’s ECB Checklist“, Project Syndicate.org, July After years in which the European Council acted as if there were no qualified women to lead the European Central Bank, it has finally abandoned that ludicrous excuse and appointed Christine Lagarde to the position. Lagarde is an eminently qualified and promising president-designate; but to have a successful tenure, she will need to head off her critics’ concerns. Relevant Posts Tooze, …Read More