Degryse, C., Jepsen, M. and Pochet, P., (2013), “The Euro crisis and its impact on national and European social policies”, European Trade Union Institute, Working Paper 2013.05, October. This critical working paper looks at the series of political choices, circumstances and windows of opportunity that have enabled one particular vision of the model of EU monetary union to gain acceptance. In the context of this model, political union is not …Read More

De Grauwe, P. and Ji, Y., (2013), “The Legacy of Austerity in the Eurozone”, Centre for European Policy Studies, 04 October. The recent slight improvement in the GDP growth rates in the eurozone has led European policy-makers to proclaim victory and assert that the austerity programmes imposed within the eurozone are paying off. But is this really the case? In this Commentary Paul De Grauwe and Yuemei Ji argue that …Read More

Ali Abas, S.M., Akitoby, B., Andritzky, J.R., Berger, H., Komatsuzaki, T. and Tyson, J., (2013), “Dealing with High Debt in an Era of Low Growth”, IMF Staff Discussion Note, SDN/13/07, September. Τask has become particularly challenging in European advanced economies where expectations of low growth and limits to monetary policy support are shifting the burden of adjustment onto fiscal consolidation. The SDN will investigate the main drivers behind successful past …Read More

Allard, C., Brooks, P.K., Bluedorn, J.C., Bornhorst, F., Ohnsorge, F. and Christopherson Puh, K.M., (2013), “Toward A Fiscal Union for the Euro Area”, IMF Staff Discussion Note, SDN/13/09, September. The crisis has exposed a critical gap in EMU: the capacity for country-level shocks, whether exogenous or home-grown, to spread across the euro area, calling into question the viability of the common currency. This paper explores the role that deeper fiscal …Read More

Furceri, D. and Zdzienicka, A., (2013), “The Euro Area Crisis: Need for a Supranational Fiscal Risk Sharing Mechanism?”, IMF Working Papers Series, WP/13/198, September. The aim of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of risk sharing mechanisms in the euro area and whether a supranational fiscal risk sharing mechanism could insure countries against very severe downturns. Using an unbalanced panel of 15 euro area countries over the period 1979-2010, …Read More

Blanchard, O., Griffiths, M. and Gruss, B., (2013), “Boom, Bust, Recovery: Forensics of the Latvia Crisis”, Final Conference Draft, Fall 2013 Brookings Panel on Economic Activity, 19-20 September. Latvia is a small country, with a population of only 2 million. Yet, it has been an object of intense attention during the crisis. Against the recommendations of many economists, it decided to maintain its peg and adjust through internal devaluation and …Read More

Woo, J., Bova, E., Kinda, T. and Zhang, S., (2013), “Distributional Consequences of Fiscal Consolidation and the Role of Fiscal Policy: What Do the Data Say?”, IMF Working Papers Series, WP/13/195, September. The 2007-09 Great Recession has led to an unprecedented increase in public debt in many countries, triggering substantial fiscal adjustments. What are the distributional consequences of fiscal austerity measures? This is an important policy question. This paper analyzes …Read More

Kirkegaard, J.F., (2013), “Economic Reforms in the Euro Area: Fiscal and Macro-structural Challenges”, European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, September. This paper highlights how recent successful stabilization efforts in the euro area have shifted the main policy challenge from “acute crisis management” to fighting chronic stagnation. Critical policy challenges concerning euro area financial sector reforms and the upcoming banking sector balancesheet assessment and stress test, as well as …Read More