Blanton, Robert G., Peksen, Dursun, (2016), “Economic liberalisation, market institutions and labour rights”, European Journal of Political Research, 29 February What effect do pro-market economic policies have on labour rights? Despite significant debate in policy and academic circles about the consequences of economic liberalisation, little is known about the labour rights effects of pro-market policies. Extant literature has focused only on the possible outcomes of market-liberalising policies, such as trade and investment …Read More
Five Lessons from a Review of Recent Crisis Programs
Arora, Vivek, (2016), “Five Lessons from a Review of Recent Crisis Programs”, iMFdirect, 11 July IMF lending increased to unprecedented levels in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. As difficulties emerged, we extended financial support to countries across the world—in the euro area, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and emerging economies in Europe. The IMF tried to draw lessons in real time as the crisis evolved in order to adapt our …Read More
QE in the future: the central bank’s balance sheet in a fiscal crisis
Ricardo Reis, (2016), “QE in the future: the central bank’s balance sheet in a fiscal crisis”, Centre for Economic Policy Research, July Analysis of quantitative easing (QE) typically focus on the recent past studying the policy’s effectiveness during a financial crisis when nominal interest rates are zero. This paper examines instead the usefulness of QE in a future fiscal crisis, modeled as a situation where the fiscal outlook is inconsistent with …Read More
Total assets versus risk weighted assets: does it matter for MREL?
Berger, Bennet, Hüttl, Pia, Merler, Silvia, (2016), “Total assets versus risk weighted assets: does it matter for MREL?”, Bruegel, 8 July As a consequence of the global financial crisis, various initiatives have been taken in different jurisdictions to ensure the future resolvability of banks without massive use of public funds. In Europe, the BRRD introduced the concept of MREL, which is in the process of being defined. Relevant Posts Frecaut, Olivier, (2016), “A National Wealth …Read More
The OECD And Job Protection: New Findings But Old Policy Recipes On ‘Your Wage Or Your Job
Janssen, Ronald, (2016), “The OECD And Job Protection: New Findings But Old Policy Recipes On ‘Your Wage Or Your Job”, Social Europe, 7 July One of the key findings from the 2016 Employment Outlook just released by the OECD is that easier firing does not create jobs. Moreover, the OECD also finds that loosening job protection in the middle of an economic downturn results in immediate and substantial job losses. However, …Read More
Animal spirits and the optimal level of the inflation target
De Grauwe, Paul, Ji, Yuemei, (2016), “Animal spirits and the optimal level of the inflation target”, Voxeu, 7 July Low inflation targets can cause economies to hit the zero lower bound during deflationary periods caused by even mild shocks. In such circumstances, central banks lose their ability to stimulate the economy. This column assesses the risk of this happening using a model that endogenises self-perpetuating optimism and pessimism in the economy. …Read More
Credit market competition and liquidity crises
Carletti, Elena, Leonello, Agnese, (2016), “Credit market competition and liquidity crises”, ECB, No 1932 / July 2016 So far the debate among policymakers and academics has focused on the effect that competition has on the credit risk banks are exposed to. In the academic literature, two opposing views can be distinguished depending on how competition affects banks’ and borrowers’ risk taking behavior. One view is that, by reducing banks’ franchise …Read More
OECD Employment Outlook 2016
OECD, (2016), “OECD Employment Outlook 2016”, OECD Publishing, 7 July This 2016 edition of the OECD Employment Outlook provides an in-depth review of recent labour market trends and short-term prospects in OECD countries. Chapter 1 examines recent labour market developments, with a special focus on vulnerable youth who are neither working nor in education or training. The size of this group has grown in recent years in many OECD countries …Read More
Fiscal policies enhancing growth in Europe: does one size fit all?
Bouthevillaina, Carine, Dufrénotb, Gilles, (2016), “Fiscal policies enhancing growth in Europe: does one size fit all?”, Oxford Economic Papers, 2 June This paper provides evidence of various reactions of growth rates to changes in the composition of taxes and public spending in Europe. We use a quantile estimator to allow different slopes of fiscal variables, across countries and years. We find that sovereign spending should be encouraged in the medium term …Read More
Instruments, rules, and household debt: the effects of fiscal policy
Andrésa, Javier, Boscáb, José E., Ferric, Javier, (2016), “Instruments, rules, and household debt: the effects of fiscal policy”, Oxford Economic Papers, 4 February We look at the interplay between the level of household debt and fiscal policy. When the fiscal rule is defined in lump-sum transfers, government spending or consumption taxes, the impact multipliers of fiscal shocks get substantially amplified in an environment of easy access to credit. However, when the …Read More