Hacker, Björn, Koch, Cédric , (2017), “Stubborn Germans: Stuck In Austerity/Stability”, Social Europe, 27 February Led by the current and previous federal government under Chancellor Angela Merkel and her CDU, the advocates of a stability union for the most part favour preservation of the status quo of the EMU architecture. The fundamental reasons for the Eurozone crisis are from this angle to be blamed on the failure of the crisis states …Read More

Fric, Karel, (2017), “Growth Of Minimum Wages Accelerates Across Europe”, Social Europe, 27 February The growth in average (nominal) pay of employees has accelerated in recent years in EU countries after a slump following the economic crisis (AMECO data). Similar developments show up in data on collectively agreed wages. However, higher wage growth figures do not automatically mean that all employees benefit equally. On 14 February 2017, the European Trade …Read More

Gilbert, Mark, (2017), “Maastricht’s Flaws Still Plague Europe, 25 Years Later”, BloombergView, 24 February Twenty five years ago this month, the representatives of 12 countries gathered in the Dutch city of Maastricht to sign the Treaty on European Union. Its claim to mark “a new stage in the process of creating an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe” looks grandiose and overblown a quarter of a century later. More …Read More

Hagan, Sean, Obstfeld, Maurice, Thomsen, Poul M., (2017), “Dealing with Sovereign Debt—The IMF Perspective”, iMFdirect, 23 February Debt is central to the functioning of a modern economy. Firms can use it to finance investments in future productivity. Households can use it to finance lumpy purchases, such as big consumer durables, or a home. Sometimes, however, firms’ investments do not pan out or a household’s main earner loses his or her job. …Read More

Batsaikhan Uuriintuya , Kalcik, Robert , Schoenmaker, Dirk , (2017), “Brexit and the European financial system”, Bruegel, 9 February London is an international financial centre, serving European and global clients. A hard Brexit would lead to a partial migration of financial firms from London to the EU27 (EU minus UK) to ensure they can continue to serve their EU27 clients. Four major cities will host most of the new EU27 wholesale …Read More

Sri-Kumar, Komal, (2017), “The Opening for Investors in Europe’s Political Turmoil”, BloombergView, 22 February After a period of relative calm, volatility and investor fear have returned to Europe. Investors took in stride the Brexit vote last June, along with the decision by Italian voters in December to reject Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s referendum, which led to his resignation. But three national elections this year — in the Netherlands next month, inFrance …Read More

Onado, Marco, (2017), “In search of a European solution for banks’ non-performing loans”, VoxEu, 21 February After ten years of crisis, European banks are far from seeing the end of the tunnel. While US banks have recovered fairly quickly and have reached in 2012-15 a return on equity of 9.3%, European banks are still stuck at a meagre 3.7%, well below their cost of capital (IMF 2016). This gap is explained …Read More

McQuaid, Ronald, (2017), “Youth unemployment produces multiple scarring effects”, EUROPP, 18 February There are lots of problems with analysing the causes and effects of such long-term scarring and the reasons for it appear inter-connected. For instance wellbeing and mental health may affect subsequent income and chances of getting and keeping a job, but are themselves influenced by unemployment. Some broad overlapping reasons for scarring include: (1) employer responses, (2) the person’s human …Read More