Cette année, les membres du Gn se réunissent au plus fort d’une période critique de l’Histoire contemporaine, du moins sur le plan économique et social : ils doivent affronter la plus grave crise des 80 dernières années. En paraphrasant Keynes on peut aller jusqu’à affirmer que le...

This year the G's are meeting at a critical moment in history, at least economic and social history. They will confront the gravest economic and social crisis in almost 80 years. To paraphrase Keynes, the destiny of the world is in the hands of the members of the G's. They could act in such a...

Dans la foulée du Rapport Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi, nous proposons ici de nouvelles réflexions sur le progrès social et le bien-être, qui annoncent de nouveaux travaux et de nouvelles avancées. À partir de quelques exemples simples empruntés à l'actualité, nous montrons d'abord comment...

An assessment of the conduct of monetary policy in Europe must necessarily be made along two distinct and complementary lines. The first is a comparison with the policies followed in the past. The second line has to assess whether monetary policy is adapted to the new conditions that came into...

This paper argues that although the crisis may have emerged in the financial sector, its roots are much deeper and lie in a structural change in income distribution that has been going on for the past three decades. The widespread increase of inequality depressed aggregate demand and prompted...

Two stylized facts emerge as we observe the evolution of public finances in the past few years. The first is a general trend towards a deterioration of fiscal positions, mainly due to cyclical factors (the persistently deceiving growth performance of the Euro zone). The second, a remarkable lack...

A review of different theoretical models confirms that economists of opposing beliefs find themselves agreeing about the usefulness of employment subsidies. In a country with a relatively high wage floor, they reduce the cost of labour for firms. In countries where wage floors are low, subsidies...

This paper reviews the arguments in favour and against the “Stability and Growth Pact” signed by the countries of the Euro area. We find the theoretical debate to be inconclusive, as both externality and credibility arguments can be reversed to yield opposite, and equally plausible...