Derviş, Κ. & Saraceno, F. (2014) “An Investment New Deal for Europe“, Brookings Blog, 03 September.   Six years into the crisis, the eurozone remains the sick man of the world economy. Its GDP today is barely at the pre-crisis level, deflation looms and the difference between the healthier core and a struggling periphery is not resolved. Moreover, even Germany may be slowing down, and Finland is in persistent recession. …Read More

Szczurek, M. (2014) “Investing for Europe’s Future“, VoxEU Organisation, 05 September.   The ‘lost decade’ is not a scenario for the EU, it’s the baseline forecast. In this column, Polish Finance Minister Mateusz Szczurek calls for an EU-wide public investment programme of 5.5% of GDP to overcome the constraints behind Europe’s ‘secular stagnation’. He calculates that €700 billion of capital expenditures could close the output gap in the short term …Read More

Tierney, S. (2014) “Europe is entering the ‘age of the referendum’, but there is nothing to fear for European democracy if referendums are properly regulated“, LSE EUROPP, 02 September.   Referendums have become increasingly common occurrences in European states in recent decades. Stephen Tierneywrites on some of the potential benefits and dangers of using referendums to solve key constitutional questions. He writes that while referendums can undermine democracy if used …Read More

De Grauwe, P. (2014) “The wrong medicine, The Eurozone’s remedies against sluggish growth rates aren’t working. The problem: a misdiagnosis of the illness“, The European Magazine, 26 August.   At the start of 2014 there was some hope that the economic recovery in the Eurozone would gather momentum. This hope has dissipated as the year has progressed. The slow growth in the Eurozone has become endemic since the start of …Read More

Ekkehard Ernst (2014) “Backing the wrong horse, The solution to ease mass unemployment is at hand, but policymakers across Europe are too blind to see it“, The European Magazine, 02 September.   Even today in 2014, the job market is likely to remain Europe’s number one problem child. Five years after the outbreak of the euro crisis and two years after Mario Draghi pledged to do “whatever it takes” to …Read More

Möller, Α. & Oliver, Τ. (2014) “Greater attention should be paid to the consequences of a ‘Brexit’ for the EU and other states around the world, not just the UK“, LSE EUROPP Blog, 01 September.   The UK’s EU membership is likely to be a key issue in the 2015 British general election campaign: a point underlined by the defection last week of the Conservative MP Douglas Carswell to UKIP. Almut …Read More

Barwell, R. & Chadha, J. (2014) “Publish or be damned or why central banks need to say more about the path of their policy rates“, VoxEU Organisation, 31 August.   In the wake of the crisis, forward guidance has become a prominent tool of monetary policy. This column argues that central banks should go a step further, communicating to the public the internal policy debate that goes into monetary policy …Read More

Gros, D. (2014) “A European sanctions compensation fund?“, Economic Policy, CEPS Commentaries, 12 August.   Daniel Gros explores in a new CEPS Commentary the feasibility of creating a common fund to provide compensation for the economic costs of sanctions as an integral part of the EU’s foreign-policy stance that is now emerging towards Russia, albeit slowly and painfully.  Τhe EU has now finally agreed to impose ‘third-level sanctions’ against Russia. …Read More