All of the attempts to end the euro crisis and to return the Eurozone countries to healthy growth rates of income and employment have failed. The options that are currently being discussed are not likely to be more successful

The paper provides and empirical characterization of fiscal policy in the euro area and in a group of twenty-two OECD economies over the period from 1970 until 2007. Using the cyclically-adjusted fiscal balance we document that policy in the euro area has been mildly pro-cyclical. The adoption...

The possibility that the euro area might break up was being raised even before the single currency existed. These scenarios were then lent new life five or six years on, when appreciation of the euro and problems of slow growth in various member states led politicians to blame the European...

We consider the effect of excluding government investment from the deficit subject to the limits of the European Stability and Growth Pact. In the model we consider, residents of a given country discount future costs and benefits of government spending more than efficiency would dictate, because...

The aging of the population shakes the confidence in the economic viability of pay-as-you-go social security systems. We demonstrate how in a political-economy framework the shaken cofidence leads to the downsizing of the social security-system, and to the emergence of supplemental individual...

This paper begins by discussing the inherent conflict between the simultaneous existence of a single currency for the countries of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and the independent fiscal policies of those countries. The Stability and Growth Pact was an attempt to reconcile that...

We examine how the GDPR affected transatlantic venture investment. Using investment data from 2014 to 2019, we find that the GDPR's rollout in May 2018 led to a significant decline in US investor activity in the EU, evidenced by fewer deals and investment, especially for newer and data-related...

The development of English-language skills, a near necessity in today's global economy, is heavily influenced by historical national decisions about whether to subtitle or dub TV content. While prior studies of language acquisition have focused on schools, we show the overwhelming influence of...

We study the granular wage and employment effects of a German place-based policy using a research design that leverages EU-wide rules governing program parameters at the regional level. The program subsidizes investments to create jobs with a subsidy rate that varies across labor market regions....

Despite broad acceptance among economists, carbon taxes face persistent public resistance. We measure the sources and distribution of welfare losses from unexpected European carbon price changes by estimating their impact on consumer prices, labor income, financial wealth, and government...