Schulz, Martin, (2016), “Pulling Europe Back From The Brink”, Social Europe Journal, January. Ιn 2007, the United States caught a serious – and highly contagious – economic cold. Eight years later, it is finally making a convincing recovery – so convincing that last month the US Federal Reserve raised the country’s base interest rate for the first time in almost a decade. Europe, however, remains in bad shape. Not only has …Read More
Six Questions for Europe
Bocchi, Alessandro Magnoli, (2016), “Six Questions for Europe”, Εconomonitor Blog, January. Europe is in decline. To avoid decay, it needs to bridge the gap between aspirations and reality. As practiced, democracy is failing citizens and needs rethinking. Below-replacement fertility rates put the welfare state at risk. Rigid social structures induce risk-aversion and stifle innovation. Immigration-without-integration erodes social cohesion. Without fresh thinking at the macro and micro level, growth will stagnate. Going …Read More
The US Phillips Curve: Back to the 60s?
Blanchard, Olivier, (2016), “The US Phillips Curve: Back to the 60s?”, Peterson Institute for International Economics, January. Blanchard reexamines the behavior of inflation and unemployment and reaches four conclusions: (1) Low unemployment still pushes inflation up; high unemployment pushes it down. Put another way, the US Phillips curve is alive. (2) Inflation expectations, however, have become steadily more anchored, leading to a relation between the unemployment rate and the level of inflation …Read More
Employment and Social Developments in Europe 2015
European Commission, (2016), “Employment and Social Developments in Europe 2015 “, European Commission publications, 21 January Success in raising employment levels and living standards in Europe depends on effective support policies as well as positive macro-economic strategies. In this respect, this year’s Employment and Social Developments review addresses a range of issues.It starts by looking at the contribution of entrepreneurship and self-employment to job creation and growth and the need …Read More
The Future of Jobs-Employment, Skills and Workforce Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution
World Economic Forum, (2016), “Executive Summary: The Future of Jobs-Employment, Skills and Workforce Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution”, World Economic Forum, January Disruptive changes to business models will have a profound impact on the employment landscape over the coming years. Many of the major drivers of transformation currently affecting global industries are expected to have a significant impact on jobs, ranging from significant job creation to job displacement, and from heightened …Read More
Has the euro been a failure?
Tilford, Simon, Springford, John, Odendahl, Christian, (2016), “Conference report: Has the euro been a failure?”, Centre for European Reform, 11 January. November’s conference, which brought together 50 leading economists, considered whether the euro was a failure. A host of questions were debated. How should the euro be judged? Purely by the fact that it has survived? Or by the fact that is has become a significant international reserve currency? Or by comparing what its proponents …Read More
How long before growth and employment are restored in Greece?
Papadimitriou, Dimitri B., Nikiforos, Michalis, Zezza, Gennaro, (2016), “How long before growth and employment are restored in Greece?”, Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, Strategic Analysis, January. The Greek economy has not succeeded in restoring growth, nor it has managed to restore a climate of reduced uncertainty, which is crucial for stabilizing the business climate that promotes investment. On the contrary, a new round of austerity measures that has agreed upon will imply another year of …Read More
European Business Cycle Indicators – 4th Quarter 2015
European Commission, (2016), “European Business Cycle Indicators – 4th Quarter 2015”, European Commission publications, Technical Paper 5, January Following up on the analysis in the previous issue of the EBCI, this quarter’s special topic investigates whether new ways of aggregating the results of the harmonised EU consumer survey can produce confidence indicators which are more powerful than DG ECFIN’s established CCI in forecasting turning points in private consumption growth. Relevant …Read More
Crowding Out in the Labour Market: Do Employers Lend a Hand?
Verhaest, Dieter, Bogaert, Elene, Dereymaeker, Jeroen, Mestdagh, Laura, Baert, Stijn, (2016), “Crowding Out in the Labour Market: Do Employers Lend a Hand?”, IZA, January. We test the basic assumption underlying the job competition and crowding out hypothesis: that employers always prefer higher educated to lower educated individuals. To this end, we conduct a randomised field experiment in which duos of fictitious applications by bachelor and master graduates are sent to real vacancies requiring only a …Read More
Quantitative Easing: Evolution of economic thinking as it happened on Vox
Den Haan,Wouter, (2016), “Quantitative Easing: Evolution of economic thinking as it happened on Vox”, Voxeu, 19 January. Policymakers have employed various new tools in response to the Global Crisis to revitalise economic performance. This new eBook brings together key Vox columns to reveal the evolution of the economic profession’s thinking about one such tool – quantitative easing. Relevant Posts Danielsson, J. (2015) “Post-Crisis banking regulation: Evolution of economic thinking as …Read More