Quarterly report on the euro area
European Commission The July 2011 issue of the Quarterly Report focuses on the EU’s new integrated policy surveillance, which is centred upon the recently-completed European Semester. The report starts with an assessment of the latest batch of euro-area Member States’ Stability Programmes. Member States plan sizeable frontloaded fiscal consolidation that is mainly expenditure-based. However, planned […]
National buybacks: The solution for Greek debt
Hufbauer, Gary Clyde & Kirkegaard, Jacob Funk . What to do about Greece? The face value of Greek sovereign debt is now around 150% of GDP and rising. This column proposes a debt buyback scheme and outlines how it could be achieved to the benefit of the whole of Europe. The face value of Greece’s sovereign debt is […]
Eastern European lessons for the southern Mediterranean
Sapir, André & Zachmann, Georg. The economic profiles of southern Mediterranean countries (SMCs) bear some resemblance to those of south-eastern European countries and some former Soviet republics at the beginning of their economic transition in 1990. The SMCs resemble less the former communist countries that joined the European Union in 2004. The SMCs are more […]
Όταν οι οικονομολόγοι κάνουν λάθη!
Ο Robert Lucas, καθηγητής στο πανεπιστήμιο του Σικάγο, βραβεύτηκε το 1995 με το βραβείο Νόμπελ Οικονομίας. Το 2003, έκανε μία δήλωση, η οποία διαψεύστηκε πολύ σύντομα. Ο Lucas μίλησε ως πρόεδρος της Αμερικανικής Οικονομικής Εταιρείας, στην ετήσια σύνοδό της, και αφού εξήγησε πως η μακροοικονομική ξεκίνησε ως απάντηση στην μεγάλη ύφεση, διακήρυξε πως είχε έρθει […]
Modeling Optimal Fiscal Consolidation Paths in a Selection of European Countries
Kanda, Daniel. For a number of countries – Italy, Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, and France – this paper develops an inter-temporal model that elicits the implied country-preferences over balancing the conflicting objectives of fiscal consolidation and reduction of economic slack. The model suggests that some front-loading of adjustment is desirable, although the extent […]