What is holding Italy back?
Gros, Daniel. This contribution by CEPS Director Daniel Gros lays the blame for Italy’s poor growth, which presently poses an existential threat to the entire eurozone, squarely on the country’s abysmal record on such governance factors as corruption and the rule of law. Reversing this political decline will take years of national commitment – of […]
Poor countries or poor people? Development assistance and the new geography of global poverty
Kanbur, Ravi, Sumner, Andy. Many poor people no longer live in poor countries. Of the 10 countries that contribute most to global poverty, six are middle-income countries. For many aid organisations, ‘middle-income’ means they no longer qualify for the same financial aid. This column argues that such a policy would be failing up to a billion […]
Iceland’s programme with the IMF 2008–11
Baldursson, Friðrik Már. During the global crisis, Iceland was hit by the biggest banking crisis any country has ever suffered. This column reviews the role of the IMF in Iceland’s recovery. It argues that the IMF programme was not perfectly designed but successful. Iceland re-entered capital markets less than three years after the crisis. Πηγή: […]
Wanted: a stronger and better G20 for the global economy
Angeloni, Ignazio, Pisani-Ferry, Jean. The G20 acted as a crisis manager when global financial markets were under threat in 2008 and 2009, and contributed to a positive outcome. However since then, in the more routine work of crisis prevention, its performance has been less convincing at best, and criticism of its effectiveness has increased. Nevertheless, […]
The Bogey of Fiscal Stimulus
Sundaram, Jomo Kwame. After the economic disaster of 2008-2009, people are understandably wary of the devastation that yet another financial crisis can wreak. But the likelihood of another crisis is quite small, and its adverse impact would be far less devastating this time around, as there are no more massive credit or asset bubbles to […]
The Global Jobs Challenge
Spence, Michael. Over the past three decades, hundreds of millions of new workers have entered the global economy. They arrived with various levels of education and skill, and over time have generally gained in terms of “human capital” – and in terms of value added and income. This has brought a tremendous, and ongoing, growth […]
A framework for two macro policy instruments: Money and banking combined
Gersbach, Hans. The way in which monetary policy, macroprudential policy, and microprudential regulation of banks should be organised and conducted is a major, as yet unresolved, issue. In CEPR Policy Insight No.58, the author outlines a policy framework for addressing this issue. Πηγή: CEPR πλήρες κείμενο
From crisis to constitution
Gylfason, Thorvaldur. As economic protests continue throughout Europe, many wonder whether such efforts will be in vain. This column explores what happened in Iceland, where a “pots-and-pans” revolution in response to the devastating financial crisis gave rise to a new constitution. Πηγή: Voxeu πλήρες κείμενο
Firing Regulations and Firm Size in the Developing World: Evidence from Differential Enforcement
Almeida, Rita, Susanlı, Bilgen. This paper examines how stringent de facto firing regulations affect firm size hroughout the developing world. We exploit a large firm level dataset across 63 countries and within country variation in the enforcement of the labor codes in countries with very different de jure firing regulations. Our findings strongly suggest that […]
EU’s financial transaction tax is feasible, and if set right, desirable
Persaud, Avinash. The ‘Tobin tax’ has once again appeared in the headlines having been proposed by the European Commission and opposed by the US. This column argues that such taxes are more feasible than most think when they are linked to legal enforceability, and that the burden would be disproportionately borne by high-frequency traders that […]