Masciandaro, D. and Passarelli, F., (2013), “Single supervision and resolution rules: Is ECB independence at risk?”, VoxEU, 21 December. During the Great Moderation, central banks focused on price stability, and independence was seen as crucial to limit inflation bias. Since the Global Financial Crisis, emergency support measures for banks, and central banks’ increasing involvement in supervision, have called central bank independence into question. This column argues that the literature has …Read More

Münchau, W., (2013), “An exercise in prolonging a banking credit crunch”, The Financial Times, 22 December. The lousy agreement on banking union will produce the financial sector equivalent of austerity The agreement on a eurozone banking union is neither a glass half full, nor half empty. As many commentators are saying, last week’s deal is hideously complex, and a common resolution mechanism without a fiscal backstop for failed banks is …Read More

Blanchard, O., Ostry, J. and Ghosh, A., (2013), “Overcoming the obstacles to international macro policy coordination is hard”, VoxEU, 20 December. The world has just been through a period of unprecedented macro policy activism. More is set to come as central banks exit unconventional policies, governments fix their fiscal positions, and financial regulations are reformed. These national policies have undeniable international spillovers. This column argues that the setting is ripe …Read More

Davies, H., (2013), “The Fox and the ECB”, Project Syndicate, 19 December. A French business magazine recently ranked IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde the most internationally influential French person alive – well ahead of President François Hollande. While politics may have influenced that particular decision, there is no doubt that Lagarde is at least the most prominent French woman alive. Lagarde’s competition in this category is not particularly stiff. Valérie …Read More

Wolf, M., (2013), “We still need to learn the real lessons of the crisis”, The Financial Times, 19 December. The real work that needs to be done is finding ways to recover lost output and productivity. A passer-by sees a man looking under a lamppost and asks what he is trying to find. “My keys,” he replies. They look for a while but find nothing. The passer-by asks whether the …Read More

O’Sullivan, M., (2013), “Ireland’s Model Crisis”, Project Syndicate, 18 December. Ireland has now left the clutches of the bailout-for-austerity framework established by the Troika (the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund) for indebted eurozone countries, and is leading the monetary union’s economic recovery. European policymakers, including Jean-Claude Trichet, the ECB’s former president, have suggested that Ireland’s dogged commitment to austerity is a model for others. …Read More

Crafts, N., (2013), “The Eurozone: If only it were the 1930s”, VoxEU, 13 December. This column argues that the legacy of public debt resulting from the crisis in the Eurozone is a serious threat. Both the size of the problem and the options to address it make life much more difficult for policymakers than was the case in the late 1930s after the collapse of the gold standard. For some …Read More

Mody, A., (2013), “The looming lost decade”, Bruegel, 18 December. As 2013 comes to an end, it looks like the world economy will remain stuck in low gear. For those reading the tea leaves of global recovery, the third-quarter GDP numbers offered no solace. While the United States is ahead of the pack, some of its gains could soon be lost, as accumulating inventories begin eroding profits. Despite glimmers of …Read More