Kanbur, Ravi, Ronconi, Lucas, (2016), “Stricter labour laws go hand-in-hand with less enforcement effort”, Voxeu, 30 March Current de jure measures of labour regulation stringency point to negative consequences of labour laws. This column presents new evidence on cross-country measurements of enforcement of labour laws from almost every country in the world. The authors argue that the consequences of labour enforcement cannot be credibly assessed using de jure measures which ignore the …Read More

Wolff, Guntram B., Bénassy-Quéré, Agnès, (2016), “ECB decisions put lack of fiscal union in the spotlight”, Bruegel, 30 March Fiscal policy in the euro area is hardly supporting the recovery and the ECB. The EU needs a a proper fiscal union in order to stabilise the economy and inflation. We see four main avenues for achieving a viable fiscal framework. Relevant Posts Eijffinger, Sylvester, (2016), “The ECB Goes Rogue”, Project Syndicate, 18 March Bénassy-Quéré, Agnès, Ragot, Xavier, Wolff, Guntram …Read More

Goodhart, Charles A.E., Schoenmaker, Dirk, (2016), “The US is beginning to dominate global investment banking: Implications for Europe”, Voxeu, 28 March The European banking system is downsizing. As a consequence, the big US investment banks are on the rise in Europe. This column argues that US investment banks are about to surpass their European counterparts in the European investment banking market. The authors also discuss why leaving global investment banking to …Read More

Sinn, Hans-Werner, (2016), “Europe’s Emerging Bubbles”, Project Syndicate, 28 March The European Central Bank’s latest policy moves have shocked many observers. While the goal – to prevent deflation and spur growth – is clear, the policies themselves are setting the stage for severe instability. Relevant Posts Eijffinger, Sylvester, (2016), “The ECB Goes Rogue”, Project Syndicate, 18 March Merler, Silvia, (2016), “ECB TLTRO 2.0 – Lending at negative rates”, Bruegel Blog, 11 …Read More

Gorton, Gary B., Ordoñez, Guillermo L, (2016), “Good booms, bad booms: Why only some credit booms end in a crisis”, Voxeu, 27 March Credit booms are not rare and usually precede financial crises. However, some end in a crisis while others do not. This column argues that credit booms start with an increase in productivity, which subsequently falls much faster during ‘bad booms’. When this decline is severe enough, it changes the …Read More