Ford, Nicholas, Horioka, Charles Yuji, (2016), “The ‘real’ explanation of the Feldstein-Horioka puzzle – and what it means”, Voxeu, 5 Μay The Feldstein-Horioka puzzle concerns why levels of investment and saving are correlated across countries. This is puzzling because financial markets can rapidly move capital between countries, and there is no reason why the best investment opportunities should be in a saver’s home country. This column posits a disarmingly simple solution to this longstanding …Read More

Bruno, Randolph, Campos, Nauro F., Estrin, Saul, Tian, Meng, (2016),  “The FDI premium from EU membership”, Voxeu, 5 Μay The current Brexit debate has highlighted questions about the benefits and costs of EU membership. This column considers the effect of membership on foreign direct investment (FDI). Using several measures, EU membership is found to increase FDI inflows by 14–38% between 1985 and 2013. These results support arguments for economic integration, and indicate that, like …Read More

Dixon, Robert, Lim, Guay, Van Ours, Jan, (2016), “Output gaps and unemployment by age and gender”, Voxeu, 3 Μay Okun’s law describes the positive empirical relationship between unemployment and the output gap. This column explores how this relationship differs depending on age and gender, taking into account different labour market institutions. Using data for 20 OECD countries over three decades, the authors find that the effect of Okun’s relationship decreases with age. Labour market …Read More

Corsetti, Giancarlo, Koijen, Ralph S.J., Reichlin, Lucrezia,  Reis, Ricardo, Rey, Hélène, Weder di Mauro, Beatrice, (2016), “Reinforcing the Eurozone and protecting an open society”, Voxeu, 4 May The sovereign debt and refugee crises prove that Europe has failed to design institutions robust enough to weather difficult times. Coordinated actions are needed, but these are difficult to implement because of the political climate. This column presents the 2nd Monitoring the Eurozone report, in which the authors propose …Read More

Borri, Nicola, Reichlin, Pietro, (2016), “Completing the Eurozone banking union: What must be done”, Voxeu, 4 Μay Most commentators agree that a European banking union would end the ‘deadly embrace’ between creditors and governments. This column argues that a banking union would be welcome, but that current proposals are dogged with problems. To resolve these, we should stop discussing debt restructuring and instead enhance the borrowing capacity of the European Stability Mechanism. A …Read More

Johnson, Simon, (2016),  “The Next Global Boom – and Bust”, Project Syndicate, 29 April The mood at the International Monetary Fund-World Bank spring meetings here earlier this month was grim. The latest IMF forecast for global growth has been revised downward yet again – suggesting the world will grow at an annual rate of just over 3% this year and again in 2017. If realized, this would be a dismal performance. Before …Read More