The financial crisis that struck the global economy in late 2008 had its origins in excesses in the US housing market. Its reverberations, however, were felt around the world and nowhere more keenly than in Western Europe. While North Atlantic trade links were in relative stasis, the North...

Drawing upon a comprehensive database of contemporary protectionism, this paper offers an initial assessment of the extent to which our understanding of protectionism may have to evolve. While some long-standing features of protectionism appear to have endured (such as the distribution of...

This paper reviews the background and key policy challenges of the current situation of the Spanish economy. It describes the strengths and weaknesses of Spain’s recent long growth cycle, the real and financial imbalances accumulated towards its end, and the troubles faced at the current...

Large economic crises require quick policy reactions. They bring a sense of urgency by increasing the cost of the status quo, and may thus force policy-makers to reform. However, large crises increase also uncertainty for many individuals (entrepreneurs, workers, retirees), and thus induce more...

Recent research convincingly shows that crises beget reform. Although the consensus is that economic crises foster macroeconomic stabilization, it is silent on which types of crises cause which types of reform. Is it economic or political crises that are the most important drivers of structural...

This paper explores the impact of Europe's existing institutional framework on the degree of macroeconomic disparity in the Eurozone. It draws son analysis of the costs of this framework as well as of the benefits of European economic and monetary unification. It also highlights how these costs...

The 2007 financial crises has brought to eminence and a long overdue recognition to the ideas of Hyman P. Minsky who is a post-Keynesian authority on monetary theory and financial institutions. He had extensively studied the economic fluctuations and recurring instability of the financial system...

Short-time work was the 'German answer' to the economic crisis. The number of short-time workers strongly increased in the recession and peaked at more than 1.5 million. Without the extensive use of short-time work, unemployment would have risen by approximately twice as much as it actually did....

L'arrivée de la crise économique en 2008, a obligé les entreprises à faire face à une situation inattendue. Les agences d'emploi sont directement touchées, étant donné la nature même de leur activité. Deux années plus tard, les entreprises espèrent enfin sortir de cette crise. Nous...

This short paper argues that rationally motivated coordination between agents is an important ingredient to understand the current economic crisis. We argue that changes in parameters that model the structure of a macro-economy or financial markets are not exogenous but arise as agents adopt...