Daryoush, Toutia, Hedberg,  Annika, Pardo, Romain, (2015), “Towards a sustainable European economy”, European Policy Center publications, 13 October As outlined in the European Environment Agency’s report on “The European Environment – State and Outlook 2015” (SOER 2015), global trends such as world population growth, growing demand for resources, climate change and environmental pollution, increasing pressures on ecosystems, urbanisation and technological advancements are affecting also Europe. Annika Hedberg (Senior Policy Analyst), Romain Pardo (Policy Analyst) …Read More

Carlo Padoan, Pier, (2015), “Making Progress In Economic And Monetary Union”, Social Europe Journal, 9 October The recovery that has been developing over the past several quarters in Europe is encouraging but modest. To obtain stronger and more sustained growth and job creation, decisive policy action is needed beyond the current policy mix and the positive contribution by the ECB policy stance. Action must be accelerated on several fronts: structural …Read More

Terzi, Alessio, (2015), “No coordination without representation”, Bruegel publications. 8 October Further democratic legitimacy is a pre-requisite to economic union. This article explores how economic policies in the euro area should be coordinated, but this cannot be done in a mechanical rules-based manner. Arguing the contrary suggests a cavalier understanding of the complexity of economic policymaking. Relevant Posts Maçães, Bruno, (2015), «The missing piece in the EMU puzzle: Economic policy coordination», …Read More

Economist, (2015), “The sticky superpower”, Special Report, 3 October IN JUNE THIS year Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, a giant Chinese e-commerce firm, addressed the Economic Club of New York, whose members include many Manhattan luminaries and Wall Street chiefs. Mr Ma’s message was that his company exists for the long-term good of society, a far cry from the creed of shareholder value followed by many in the room. …Read More

Harbour, Malcolm, (2015), “Strengthening the beating heart of the European economy”, European Policy Centre Publications, 29 September In an atmosphere of crisis, distrust and fragmentation, policy-makers in Brussels are mostly focused on fighting fire without having an ambitious vision for the future – in effect, muddling through, as has been the characteristic response in recent years. However, by remaining in crisis response mode, the European Union (EU) is failing to provide …Read More

Mukand, Sharun, Rodrik, Dani, (2015), “The political economy of liberal democracy“, Voxeu, 29 September There are more democracies in the world than non-democracies, but few of the democracies go beyond electoral competition. This column highlights the contrast between electoral democracies and liberal ones, that is, those that protect civil rights in addition to political and property rights. Liberal democracies are rare because the failure to protect minority rights is a common consequence of the …Read More