Cline, R. W. (2014) Managing the Euro Area Debt Crisis, Washington: Peterson Institute for International Economics, June. First came the financial and debt crisis in Greece, then government financing difficulties and rescue programs in Ireland in 2010 and Portugal in 2011. Before long, Italy and Spain were engulfed by financial contagion as well. Finally in 2012, the European Central Bank pledged to do “whatever it takes” to preserve the …Read More
Schultz, M. (2014) “Bringing Europe closer to the people“, European Parliament: Articles, 10 July. “Isn’t it rather that Europe turns away from the people?” This question from a Danish woman during a debate on why people turn away from Europe got Martin Schulz thinking for months. “This sentence really touched me,” he told us a few months later in an interview. “Maybe it isn’t true, but we have to …Read More
Beblavý, Μ., Maselli, Ι. & Veselkova, Μ. (2014) “Let’s get to Work! The Future of Labour in Europe“, Economic Policy, CEPS Paperbacks, 10 July. Work is both an essential part of our daily lives and one of the major policy concerns across Europe. Yet the public debate of labour issues is all too often driven by political rhetoric and short-term concerns. In this volume, researchers from seven European countries …Read More
Pagliari, S., Vallée, S. & Monnet, E. (2014) “Europe between financial repression and regulatory capture“, Working Paper 2014/08, Bruegel Think Tank, 10 July. The financial crisis modified drastically and rapidly the European financial system’s political economy, with the emergence of two competing narratives. First, government agencies are frequently described as being at the mercy of the financial sector, routinely hijacking political, regulatory and supervisory processes, a trend often referred …Read More
Merritt, G. (2014) “Juncker’s Make-or-Break Presidency“, Project Syndicate, 09 July. Some say that political theater, not policies, drives democracies, and that’s certainly true of the drama – with comic overtones – that has been playing out in the European Union. The European Parliament elections in late May highlighted the “big picture” of the EU’s accelerating unpopularity; yet that warning was quickly eclipsed by the much smaller question of who …Read More
Innerarity, D. (2014) “EU democracy should be based on the principle of respecting diverse identities, not uniting through the creation of a European demos“, LSE EUROPP, 09 July. Is the development of a European ‘demos’ necessary for the EU to be democratic? Daniel Innerarity writes that while a shared demos is often put forward as a fundamental aspect of democracy, it also entails certain negative developments, such as a …Read More
Maçães, Β. (2014) “An ever closer union?“, VoxEU Organisation, 09 July. The debate on the future of the European Union is in full swing. In this column, Bruno Macaes – the Portuguese Minister for Europe – stresses the importance of policy coordination in achieving better integration. One way to do so is via a fiscal union, but this creates unity at the expense of diversity. A second way involves …Read More
Claeys, G. (2014) “The (not so) Unconventional Monetary Policy of the European Central Bank since 2008“, Policy Department A for the Monetary Dialogue discussions in the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) of the European Parliament, 09 July. The global financial and economic crisis forced major central banks to act swiftly and to innovate to avoid a free fall of their economies. This paper reviews in depth the measures …Read More
Gennaioli, Ν., Martin, Α. & Rossi, S. (2014) “Banks, Government Bonds, and Default: What do the Data Say?“, IMF Working Paper No. 14/120, 08 July. We analyze holdings of public bonds by over 20,000 banks in 191 countries, and the role of these bonds in 20 sovereign defaults over 1998-2012. Banks hold many public bonds (on average 9% of their assets), particularly in less financially-developed countries. During sovereign defaults, …Read More
Mitchell, B. (2014) “Italy should lead the way out of the euro-zone“, Bill Mitchell Blog, 08 July. One of the major demands that the Germans made on its partners leading into Maastricht in 1991 was the need for a politically independent central bank that was focused on price stability alone. This was claimed to be essential because it would stop politicians imposing so-called short-termism onto monetary policy (read: caring …Read More
