Arellano, Cristina, Atkeson, Andrew, Wright, Mark, (2016), “External and Public Debt Crises”, NBER Macroeconomics Annual, Volume 30 Number 1 At the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, the members of two advanced monetary and economic unions, the nations of the euro zone and the US States, experienced debt crises with spreads on government borrowing rising dramatically: in a short period of time, Californian spreads rose sixfold, Italian rose tenfold, Illinois fifteenfold and …Read More

Dell’Ariccia, Giovanni, Igan, Deniz, Laeven, Luc, Tong, Hui, (2016), “Credit booms and macrofinancial stability”, Economic Policy, Volume 31, Issue 86, 31 Μarch This paper explores several questions about credit booms and busts: When do credit booms occur? When do they end up in busts, and when do they not? What are the implications for different policies if curbing credit growth and/or mitigating the associated risks is an objective? We find that credit booms are often associated …Read More

Belke, Ansgar, Gros, Daniel, (2016), “Optimal Adjustment Paths in a Monetary Union”, CEPS Working Document No. 424, July Adjustment to an external imbalance is more difficult within a monetary union if wages are sticky. Periods of high unemployment are usually necessary to achieve the required real depreciation (internal devaluation). Gradual adjustment is usually recommended to distribute the output and employment cost over time. This paper takes into account that gradual adjustment also …Read More

Falkner, Gerda, (2016), “The EU’s problem-solving capacity and legitimacy in a crisis context: a virtuous or vicious circle?”, West European Politics, Volume 39, Issue 5, 16 June This article focuses on which mechanisms enabled the eurozone to escape from gridlock. At present, the EU is in a state of profound and multiple crises. Nonetheless, it managed to bring about a medium-term stabilisation of its banking system and economic governance, and a systemic implosion …Read More

Attanasio, Orazio P., Pistaferri, Luigi, (2016), “Consumption Inequality”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Volume 30, Number 2, Spring 2016 In this essay, we discuss the importance of consumption inequality in the debate concerning the measurement of disparities in economic well-being. We summarize the advantages and disadvantages of using consumption as opposed to income for measuring trends in economic well-being. We critically evaluate the available evidence on these trends, and in particular discuss how …Read More