Chmelar, Al., (2013), “Household Debt and the European Crisis”, ECRI Research Report. The fall in economic output all over Europe since 2008 has had important consequences for household liabilities. Major growth in demand and supply for household credit products has generated an increase in household debt, which contributed to growth rates during the pre-crisis period but – in some countries – became household-debt overhangs and helped inflate asset bubbles. In …Read More

Princen, S., Mourre, G., (2013), “The role of tax policy in times of fiscal consolidation”, European Economy, Economic Papers N.502. The paper consists in the proceedings of the workshop organised by the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs held in Brussels on 18 October 2012. Against the background of severe consolidation needs in many EU Member States, the workshop addressed the macroeconomic impact and redistributive effects of consolidation measures on the revenue …Read More

Mortensen, J., (2013), “Economic Policy Coordination in the Economic and Monetary Union: From Maastricht via the SGP to the Fiscal Pact”, CEPS, 14 August. This paper first takes a step backwards with an attempt to situate the recent adoption of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union in the context of discussions on the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) and the ‘Maastricht criteria’, as …Read More

Mody, Ash., (2013),  “Sovereign debt and its restructuring framework in the euro area”, www.bruegel.org, 12 August. To compensate for the inflexibility of fixed exchange rates, the euro area needs flexibility through a system of orderly debt restructuring. With virtually no room for macroeconomic manoeuvring since the crisis onset, fiscal austerity has been the main instrument for achieving reductions in public debt levels; but because austerity also weakens growth, public debt ratios …Read More

Mayer, Thomas, (2013), “A Copernican turn in Banking Union urgently needed”, CEPS Policy Briefs, N. 297. Despite broad agreement among central bankers, policy-makers and economists that creation of a ‘Banking Union’ is essential for the survival of the euro, progress in building this union has been painfully slow. This is largely due to the protracted fights over which government will be the payer of last resort when banks fail because …Read More

Darvas, Zsolt,  Varga, Balázs, (2013), “Inflation persistence in Central and Eastern European countries”, Bruegel Working Paper, N. 2013/04. This paper studies inflation persistence with time-varying coefficient autoregressions for twelve central European countries,in comparison with the United States and the euro area. Inflation persistence tends to be higher in times of high inflation. Since the oil price shocks, inflation persistence has declined both in the US and euro-area. In most central …Read More