Altomonte, C. & Aguilante, T. (2014) “The ‘dos and don’ts’ of a growth-friendly policy mix for the Euro area – combining monetary, fiscal and structural measures at the union level and at the national level“, Bruegel Think Tank, 01 October. When looking at possible ways out of the euro area crisis, there is a growing consensus that it will require “a policy mix that combines monetary, fiscal and structural measures at the …Read More
Pisani-Ferry, J. (2014) “Solving Europe’s Credibility Problem“, Project Syndicate, 30 September. As the eurozone debates how to escape the stagnation trap in which it finds itself, one question has become increasingly important: Can governments credibly commit to trim public spending in the future while avoiding immediate cuts? Fortunately, the answer is a qualified yes: there are ways to ensure that fiscal accommodation now is followed by consolidation later. Growth …Read More
Hedberg, A. (2014) “Value of health – too often ignored and forgotten by EU policy-makers?“, European Policy Centre (EPC) Publications, Commentary, 29 September. Whether on national or European level, policy-makers tend to under-value health, healthy society, and healthy citizens in policy-making. As the European Commission continue to ponder how questions related to health should be reflected in EU policy-making and what role it should take, there are three issues …Read More
Green European Journal (2014) The Green Democratic Reboot, Green European Foundation, Annual Print Edition 2014, September. In recent years, the volume of articles and books dedicated to the democratic crisis has been constantly expanding. The same is true of the literature addressing the ecological crisis. Yet a simultaneous reflection both on the ecological and on the democratic crisis has not accompanied this proliferation. This is the intention of this …Read More
Stiglitz, J. (2014) “Europe’s Austerity Disaster“, Social Europe Journal, 29 September. “If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the theory,” goes the old adage. But too often it is easier to keep the theory and change the facts – or so German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other pro-austerity European leaders appear to believe. Though facts keep staring them in the face, they continue to deny reality. Austerity has …Read More
Buttiglione, L., Lane, P., Reichlin, L. & Reinhart, V. (2014) “Deleveraging, What Deleveraging? The 16th Geneva Report on the World Economy“, VoxEU Organisation, 29 September. The world has not yet begun to deleverage its crisis-linked borrowing. Global debt-to-GDP is breaking new highs in ways that hinder recovery in mature economies and threaten new crisis in emerging nations – especially China. This column introduces the latest Geneva Report on the …Read More
Kreilinger, V. (2014) “The relationship between national parliaments and the European Parliament remains contested in the area of economic governance“, LSE EUROPP, 26 September. The Fiscal Compact, which was signed by 25 of the EU’s member states in 2012, created an inter-parliamentary conference to enable national parliaments to discuss major issues of economic and financial governance. The third meeting of this ‘Inter-parliamentary Conference for Economic and Financial Governance’ will …Read More
Darvas, Z. (2014) “The European Investment Bank should invest more, not less – EIB played some counter-cyclical role during the crisis, but now plans to reduce investments“, Bruegel Think Tank, 24 September. There is a growing recognition among policymakers, not least thanks to the Jackson Hole speech of ECB President Mario Draghi, that Europe faces the problem of demand shortage, in addition to various structural problems which can be …Read More
Mitchell, B. (2014) “Yet another solution for the Eurozone“, Bill Mitchell Blog: Modern Monetary Theory… Macroeconomic Reality, 25 September. The basis of a fiat currency, which is issued under monopoly conditions by the government and has no intrinsic value (unlike say gold or silver currencies) is that it is the only unit that the non-government sector can use to relinquish its tax and related obligations to the government. That …Read More
Anannya, Ο. (2014) “The Debate About Integration“, Politics in Britain – Ideas on Europe, 25 September. Integration of migrants in the United Kingdom, more culturally and socially different than British people, can give way to creating a much more diverse society. It would beget stronger communities of people more aligned to British interests and more eager to erase out the presence of any form of extremism, prejudice or intolerance towards …Read More
