Strack, P. & Viefers, P. (2014) “Regret and economic decision-making“, VoxEU Organisation, 16 October.   Regret can shape preferences and thus is an important part of the decision-making process. This column presents new findings on the theoretical and behavioural implications of regret. Anticipated regret can act like a surrogate for risk aversion and could deter investment. However, once people have invested, they become attached to their investment. This commitment is …Read More

Timeline: The Evolution of EU Economic Governance in Historical Context, European Commission, 16 October. Economic governance in the EU has been reinforced and refined over time, evolving in the context of historical developments. This timeline is interactive. Many of the texts include links to legislation and background information. Download the timeline in PDF (790 kB).    

Gros, D. (2014) “Fighting Deflation: Would QE work in the euro area?“, Economic Policy, CEPS Commentaries, 09 October.   With inflation in the eurozone stubbornly remaining on a downward trajectory, pressure is growing on the ECB to do “something” to prevent outright deflation. But, given the financial structure of eurozone countries, would the preferred “something” – quantitative easing – actually do the trick?   Relevant posts: Wyplosz, C. (2014) “Is …Read More

Barslund, M. & Busse, M. (2014) “Making the Most of EU Labour Mobility“, Social welfare policies, CEPS Task Force Reports, 07 October.   This Task Force report combines the most recent data from Eurostat with national sources to highlight the most significant labour mobility trends within the EU. Overall, the recent recession has not induced previously immobile workers to become more mobile, at least not in the larger member states. …Read More

Zaiotti, R. (2014) “Europe is suffering from a psychological blind spot over migration in the Mediterranean“, LSE EUROPP, 10 October.   The death of migrants in the Mediterranean remains a significant problem for EU migration policy. Ruben Zaiotti argues that Europe’s approach to the issue can effectively be termed a type of ‘externalisation’, in which the responsibility for migration has been off loaded to origin and transit countries. He writes …Read More

Dullien, S. (2014) “Why A European Unemployment Insurance Would Help To Make EMU More Sustainable“, Social Europe Journal, 03 October.   Since the onset of the euro-crisis, the old debate pertaining to the supra-national stabilisers in the euro-area has gained new relevance. While economic textbooks have long stipulated that countries forming a monetary union need an alternative mechanism for dealing with asymmetric shocks and even the early feasibility studies on …Read More

Mazzolini, G. & Mody, A. (2014) “Austerity Tales: the Netherlands and Italy“, Bruegel Think Tank, 03 Οκτωβρίου.   The analysis in this article warns that the deflation is likely to be a country-specific phenomenon, requiring counter measures at the country level In 2008 and early-2009, most euro area countries joined in an internationally-coordinated stimulus of the global economy to ward off the menacing crisis. But by late-2009, especially after the …Read More

Siekmann, H. & Wieland, V. (2014) “The German Constitutional Court’s decision on OMT: Have markets misunderstood?“, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Policy Insight No. 74, Οκτώβριος.   The European Central Bank’s announcement of the Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) program in summer 2012 is widely credited, not least by the ECB itself, as a key factor in the subsequent decline of sovereign risk premia in the Eurozone. Following the February 2014 …Read More

Blanchard, O. (2014) “Where danger lurks“, International Monetary Fund, Finance and Development, Σεπτέμβριος.   The recent financial crisis has taught us to pay attention to dark corners, where the economy can malfunction badly Until the 2008 global financial crisis, mainstream U.S. macroeconomics had taken an increasingly benign view of economic fluctuations in output and employment. The crisis has made it clear that this view was wrong and that there is …Read More