Prados de la Escosura, Leandro, (2015), “A new historical database on economic freedom in OECD countries”, Voxeu, 23 November Indices of economic freedom refer mostly to the recent past, making policy prescriptions difficult to draw. This column presents a new historical index of economic liberty covering 21 OECD countries for the period 1850-2007. Over time, progress in economic liberty has derived from different factors, but improvements in legal structures and property …Read More

Decressin,  Jorg, Loungani, Prakash, (2015), “The Effects of Wage Moderation: Can Internal Devaluations Work?“, IMF Direct, 17 November Devaluation is often part of the remedy for a country in financial trouble. Devaluation boosts the competitiveness of a country’s exports and curtails imports by making them more costly. Together, the higher exports and the reduced imports generate some of the financial resources needed to help the country get out of trouble. Relevant Posts …Read More

Acemoglu, Daron, Üçer, Murat, (2015), “Why Turkish growth ended: An institutional perspective”, Voxeu, 18 November Following an anaemic performance with severe imbalances in the 1990s and a debilitating financial crisis in 2001, Turkey enjoyed a period of rapid economic growth. Since about 2007 onwards, however, economic growth has slowed significantly and productivity growth has stagnated. This column argues that, rather than providing another example of the ‘stop-and-go’ cycles typical of emerging economies, the …Read More

Schoenmaker, Dirk,  Wolff, Guntram, (2015), “Options for European deposit insurance”, Voxeu, 30 October The five presidents’ report on Completing Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union in June this year called for European Deposit Insurance to complete the Banking Union. European Council President Tusk also called for completing banking union by creating a European deposit insurance and he argued that this could be done without treaty change. Relevant Posts Schoenmaker, Dirk, Wolff, Guntram, (2015), …Read More

Wolff B., Guntram, (2015), “Inflation expectations and global risks: the need for ECB action”, Bruegel, 21 October The ECB will have its next monetary decision meeting on Thursday. Instead of following politically motivated statements that complain about low nominal rates, the ECB needs to focus on its mandate: price stability, defined as inflation rates close to but below 2% in the medium-run. So what do data on inflation dynamics and on …Read More