Barwell, Richard, (2016), “No hawks, no doves, only consensus: How central banks set interest rates“, VoxEu, 19 December It is generally assumed that central bankers often argue over the appropriate conduct of monetary policy. Focusing on the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, this column argues however that based on what policymakers vote for, there is no evidence that they disagree with one another in any meaningful sense. Either policymakers …Read More

Bruzelius, Cecilia, Seeleib-Kaiser, Martin, (2016), “The case for a European minimum income scheme for jobseekers”, LSE EUROPP blog, 15 December On 13 December, the European Commission put forward a proposal to change the way EU citizens can access social benefits in other EU countries. Cecilia Bruzelius and Martin Seeleib-Kaiser argue that the proposal fails to address key weaknesses in the existing system and should be complemented by a European Minimum Income Scheme that …Read More

Schoenmaker, Dirk, (2016), “European insurance union and how to get there”, Bruegel, 13 December What are the arguments for and against centralisation of insurance supervision? What would be the scope of a possible insurance union, and what would the legal basis be? How rapid should the move to insurance union be? This Policy Brief sets out to answer these questions. Relevant Posts Guntram B. Wolff, (2016), “The European Deposit Insurance …Read More

Danielsson, Jon, Macrae, Robert, Tsomocos, Dimitri, Zigrand, Jean-Pierre, (2016), “Why macropru can end up being procyclical”, VoxEu, 15 December Discretionary macroprudential policies aim to be countercyclical by adjusting risk-taking across the financial cycle. This column argues that the opposite effect may happen in certain cases. Depending on how regulators measure risk and how they react, the eventual outcome may well be procyclical, with serious unintended consequences. Relevant Posts Merler, Silvia, (2016), …Read More

Darvas, Zsolt, (2016), “Explaining inequality”, Bruegel, 13 December Is technological progress behind growing income inequality? Zsolt Darvas argues increased automation is only part of the explanation. There is a growing awareness that income inequality has increased in a number of developed countries. The lucky ones, with high levels of accumulated wealth, assets and top incomes, earn more and more, while those who are at the bottom of the income distribution …Read More

Andor, László, Pasimeni, Paolo, (2016), “An unemployment benefit scheme for the Eurozone”, VoxEu, 13 December Since its inception, the Eurozone has had lower growth and higher unemployment rates than other regions, which suggests the need for new fiscal instruments. This column argues for a stabilisation instrument based on unemployment as the driving indicator. This unemployment benefit scheme coud take the form of a basic common European scheme, or a reinsurance fund supporting …Read More