DeGrauwe, Paul, (2016), “The EU Should Take The Side Of The Losers Of Globalization”, Social Europe, 4 July How should the European Union react to the decision of the British people to withdraw from the union? This is the question that is at the center of the political debate in Europe. The starting point in trying to answer this question is the observation that the European Union has a very negative image …Read More
Bossone, Biagio, Labini, Stefano Sylos, (2016), “Macroeconomics in Germany: The forgotten lesson of Hjalmar Schacht”, VoxEU, 1 July Despite facing many of the same challenges, Germany’s current macroeconomic policy is substantially different to those of other countries, in part due to the economy legacy of Walter Eucken. This column considers the economic policy of Hjalmar Schacht, whose ‘MEFO-bills’ monetary solution ended the years of economic struggle caused by the Treaty of …Read More
Mourlon-Druol, Emmanuel, (2016), “Banking Union in Historical Perspective: The Initiative of the European Commission in the 1960s–1970s”, JCMS Vol. 54, Iss. 4, July This article shows that planning for the organization of EU banking regulation and supervision did not just appear on the agenda in recent years with discussions over the creation of the eurozone banking union. It unveils a hitherto neglected initiative of the European Commission in the 1960s and early 1970s. …Read More
Thimann, Christian, (2016), “Quantitative Easing: The Challenge for Households Long-term Savings and Financial Security”, CESifo Working Paper No. 5976, June The extremely low long-term interest rates in capital markets, to a relevant extent induced by quantitative easing, imply significant challenges for retirement saving and the stability of households’ purchasing power over the long-term. The reason is that prices for the two most important long-term savings objectives – housing and healthcare – are …Read More
Milanovic, Branko, (2016), “The greatest reshuffle of individual incomes since the Industrial Revolution”, Voxeu, 1 July The effects of of globalisation on income distributions in rich countries have been studied extensively. This column takes a different approach by looking at developments in global incomes from 1988 to 2008. Large real income gains have been made by people around the median of the global income distribution and by those in the global top …Read More
Pestieau, Pierre, Ponthiere, Gregory, (2016), “The public economics of long term care”, Centre for Economic Policy Reseach, June With the rapid increase in LTC needs, the negligible role of the market and the declining role of informal family care, one would hope that the government would take a more proactive role in the support of dependent elderly, particularly those who cannot, whatever the reason, count on assistance from their family. The …Read More
International Monetary Fund, (2016), “Germany : Financial Sector Assessment Program-Financial System Stability Assessment”, IMF Publications, 29 June The country is home to two global systemically important financial institutions, Deutsche Bank AG and Allianz SE, as well as to one of the largest global central counterparties (CCP), Eurex Clearing AG. The system is also very heterogeneous, with a range of business models and a large number of smaller banks and insurers. …Read More
Chemla, Gilles, Hennessy, Christopher, (2016), “Government as Borrower of First Resort”, Centre for Economic Policy Research, June We examine optimal provision of riskless government bonds under asymmetric information and safe asset scarcity. Paradoxically, corporations have incentives to issue junk debt precisely when intrinsic demand for safe debt is high since uninformed investors then migrate to risky overheated debt markets. Uninformed demand stimulates informed speculation which drives junk debt prices closer to fundamentals, encouraging …Read More
Detragiache, Enrica, Natal, Jean-Marc, Pereira, Joana, (2016), “Growing Older: Germany Needs Reforms”, IMFdirect, 29 Ιουνίου Germany, a champion of structural reform prescriptions within the European Union, needs a large dose of the same medicine at home, too. Beyond public investment in transport and telecommunications, and more competition in services, dealing with an aging population needs urgent attention. With the right policies, Germany can bring more people into the workforce—and for longer—to …Read More
Giudici, Paolo, Parisi, Laura, (2016), “Bail-in versus bail-out: The Atlante example from a systemic risk perspective”, VoxEU, 3ο June In April 2016, Italian banks set up an equity fund intended to recapitalise troubled financial institutions in a ‘private bail-out intervention’ scenario, with a view to avoiding a bail-in under the European Bank and Recovery Resolution directive. This column analyses the main differences between a bail-in and a bail-out scenario. In particular, …Read More
