Wolff, Guntram, (2016), “Getting eurozone deposit insurance right promises benefits”, Bruegel, 5 January The European Commission presented its proposals for European deposit insurance last November. Officials hope to stabilise the banking system and decouple banks’ financing costs from the solvency of their host states. This would achieve the original aim of Banking Union: to break the link between states and their banking systems. Relevant Posts Gros, Daniel, Belke, Ansgar, (2015), …Read More

Best, Michael, Brockmeyer, Anne, Kleven, Henrik, Spinnewijn, Johannes, Waseem, Mazhar, (2016) “Designing tax policy in high-evasion economies”, VoxEU, 5 January Developing economies are characterised by low tax revenue and widespread tax evasion. This column assesses what tax policy instruments governments should use to raise revenue. Optimal tax policy in developing countries may diverge from what is prescribed in standard textbook models. A turnover tax, for instance, is known to distort …Read More

Stiglitz, Joseph, (2016), “The Great Malaise Continues”, Project Syndicate, 3 January The year 2015 was a hard one all around. Brazil fell into recession. China’s economy experienced its first serious bumps after almost four decades of breakneck growth. The eurozone managed to avoid a meltdown over Greece, but its near-stagnation has continued, contributing to what surely will be viewed as a lost decade. Relevant Posts Dixon, H. (2014) “A New …Read More

Friedman, Alexander, (2015), “How the Fed Just Reduced Inequality”, Project Syndicate, 16 December The US Federal Reserve has finally done it, raising interest rates for the first time in almost a decade. The ramifications for interest-rate spreads, emerging-market equities, and housing demand, among much else, are the subject of widespread debate. But, as markets learn to cope with a less accommodative monetary policy, there could be an important silver lining, …Read More

Berger, Bennet, (2015), “Non-performing loans in Italy and selected European countries”, Bruegel publications, 18 December Fears of a banking crisis in Italy are surfacing after four small Italian banks were rescued in November.The rescue plan involves transferring the banks’ bad loans to a single bad bank. Non-performing loans (NPLs), loans in default or close to being in default, continue to raise doubts about the health of the banking sector in …Read More