Pisani-Ferry, J. (2014) “Getting Investment in Europe Right“, Project Syndicate, 31 October.   The European Commission’s new president, Jean-Claude Juncker, has put public investment back on the agenda with his idea of a three-year €300 billion ($378 million) capital spending plan. The European Union’s leaders are expected to discuss his proposal in December. Everyone seems to agree that more investment would help to strengthen a worryingly feeble European economy. But, …Read More

Guiso, L. & Morelli, M. (2014) “Fixing Europe in the short and long run: The European Federal Institute“, VoxEU Organisation, 03 November.   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

STRATFOR (2014) “Europe: Building a Banking Union“, Europe’s Economic Crisis Timeline, 30 October.   Summary The recent stress tests by the European Central Bank offered few surprises and did not cause any significant political or financial reactions in the Continent. However, these tests were only the beginning of a complex process to build a banking union in the European Union. Unlike the stress tests, the next steps in this project …Read More

Jassaud, Ν. (2014) “The role of corporate governance in strengthening banks“, VoxEU Organisation, 30 October.   Sound corporate governance is essential for a well-functioning banking system and the integrity of financial markets. This column discusses the corporate governance of Italian banks, its regulatory framework, and the specific challenges arising from the role played by foundations and large cooperatives. Although Italian banks have recently made progress in improving their corporate governance, …Read More

Miles, D. (2014) “‘Mensch tracht, und Gott lacht’ – what’s the best guidance on monetary policy?“, VoxEU Organisation, 22 October.   Many central banks embrace forward guidance by announcing expected interest rate paths. But how likely it is that actual rates will be close to expected ones? This column argues that quantifying such uncertainty poses great difficulties. Precise probability statements in a world of uncertainty (not just risk) can be …Read More

Hancké, B. (2014) “Two years after Mario Draghi’s ‘whatever it takes’ moment, the Eurozone is once again staring into the abyss“, LSE EUROPP, 21 October.   Growth in the Eurozone has declined significantly over recent months, raising fears that Europe could be heading toward another economic crisis. Bob Hancké writes on what it would take to generate growth in Eurozone states. He argues that the best – and possibly only …Read More

Ghosh, R. A., Qureshi Saeed, M. & Sugawara, N. (2014) “Regulating Capital Flows at Both Ends: Does it Work?“, IMF Publications, Working Paper 14/188, 17 October.   This paper examines whether cross-border capital flows can be regulated by imposing capital account restrictions (CARs) in both source and recipient countries, as was originally advocated by John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White. To this end, we use data on bilateral cross-border …Read More

Jordana, J. & Rosas, G. (2014) “Making regulatory agencies independent is not always a recipe for better decision-making“, LSE EUROPP, 16 October.   The principle of making certain bodies independent from government, such as regulatory agencies or central banks, has become popular in a number of contexts over recent decades. As Jacint Jordana and Guillermo Rosas write, the basic assumption underpinning the principle is that electoral pressures can have a …Read More