Thomsen, Poul M., (2016), “Greece: Toward a Workable Program”, Blog iMFdirect, 11 February. Having successfully pulled Greece from the brink last summer and subsequently stabilized the economy, the government of Alexis Tsipras is now discussing with its European partners and the IMF a comprehensive multi-year program that can secure a lasting recovery and make debt sustainable. While discussions continue, there have been some misperceptions about the International Monetary Fund’s views and role in …Read More
How do Average Hours Worked Vary with Development? Cross-Country Evidence and Implications
Bick, Alexander, Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola, Lagakos, David, (2016), “How do Average Hours Worked Vary with Development? Cross-Country Evidence and Implications”, Centre for Economic Policy Research, February. How do average hours worked vary across the world income distribution? To answer this question, we build a new internationally comparable database of hours worked covering countries of all income levels. We document that average hours worked per adult are substantially higher in low-income countries than in high-income countries. This pattern …Read More
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Asymmetric Labor-Supply Responses to Wage-Rate Changes: Evidence from a Field Experiment
Doerrenberg, Philipp, Duncan, Denvil, Loeffler, Max, (2016), “Asymmetric Labor-Supply Responses to Wage-Rate Changes: Evidence from a Field Experiment”, IZA, Discussion Paper No. 9683, January. The standard labor-supply literature typically assumes that the labor supply response to wage increases is the same as that for equivalent wage decreases. However, evidence from the behavioral-economics literature suggests that people are loss averse and thus perceive losses differently than gains. This behavioral insight may imply that workers respond …Read More
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The Global Crisis special issue of Economic Policy
Beck, Thorsten , Schündeln, Nicola Fuchs, S. Gürkaynak, Refet, Ichino, Andrea, (2016), “The Global Crisis special issue of Economic Policy”, Voxeu, 10 February The Global Crisis was a watershed, not just for economies around the world, but for economics as a discipline. This column introduces a special issue of Economic Policy that collects key papers on the Global Crisis published in its aftermath between 2009 and 2014. The papers chart …Read More
Library » EU » Economy » Politics » Opinion Articles
Can mass migration boost innovation and productivity?
Boot, Nuria, Veugelers, Reinhilde, (2016), “Can mass migration boost innovation and productivity?”, Bruegel publications, 10 February The long-term impact of migration on innovation and productivity growth in host countries is a neglected issue in the current debate on refugees. Research shows that these effects can be substantial, but if Europe wants to capitalize on this potential it will need better information systems to match migrants’ skill sets with host environments. …Read More
Library » EU » Economy » Politics » Policy Papers
A new “hard core” Europe: six founding nations want an “ever closer union”
Alexe, Dan, (2016), “A new “hard core” Europe: six founding nations want an “ever closer union””, New Europe, 10 February They created the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the ancestor of the EU. They are at it again. The six founding nations of the European Union on Tuesday stressed their commitment to seek an “ever closer union” ahead of next week’s summit where Britain is expected to seek a new agreement to help …Read More
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The Negative Rates Club
Gros, Daniel, (2016), “The Negative Rates Club”, Project Syndicate, 9 February For the better part of a decade, central banks have been making only limited headway in curbing powerful global deflationary forces. Since 2008, the US Federal Reserve has maintained zero interest rates, while pursuing multiple waves of unprecedented balance-sheet expansion through large-scale bond purchases. Relevant Posts Tenebrarum, P. (2014) “The Consequences of Imposing Negative Interest Rates”, Acting Man Blog, …Read More
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Programme For A Good, More Social And Sustainable Europe
Palmer, John, (2016), “Programme For A Good, More Social And Sustainable Europe”, Social Europe Journal, 10 February As the pro-European, left wing British think tank, Compass, has rightly insisted, any serious project for a “Good Europe” must first confront the multiple crises facing the European Union. Mindless austerity, the retreat by EU governments from the goals of social justice and sustainable growth together with foreign and security entanglements with the cauldron …Read More
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Trade in parts and components across Europe
Frensch,Richard, Hanousek, Jan, Kočenda Evžen, (2016), “Trade in parts and components across Europe”, Voxeu, 9 February With the rise of global value chains, trade in intermediates now accounts for more than two-thirds of total trade. This column provides evidence that trade in parts and components of capital goods between new and old EU countries is driven by wage differences across countries. It further shows that wage differences play an important role in the ex ante …Read More
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Should the ‘outs’ join the European banking union?
Huttl, Pia, Schoenmaker, Dirk, (2016), “Should the ‘outs’ join the European banking union?”, Bruegel publications, 4 February This paper analyses the banking linkages between the nine ‘outs’ and 19 ‘ins’ of the banking union. It finds that the out countries could profit from joining banking union, because it would provide a stable arrangement for managing financial stability. Relevant Posts Gros, Daniel, Belke, Ansgar, (2015), “Banking Union as a Shock Absorber: …Read More
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