European leaders debate the establishment of a "European Recovery Fund" (ERF). The ERF shall help the European economy to restart growth after the COVID-19 pandemic-related recession that is currently unfolding. Early national and European fiscal measures of anti-crisis policy have been focused...

The paper applies standard public choice reasoning to the negotiations on EU enlargement and the Treaty of Nice. The starting point is the assumption that accession can only be successfully completed if the interests of decisive actors in present EU countries are respected. Decisive actors in...

Using data from a unique survey of members of parliaments in France, Germany and Italy in 2018, we estimate the effects of three dimensions on EU and euro area fiscal reform preferences: nationality, political ideology, and populism. We predict and confirm that a German populist party on the...

The paper applies standard public choice reasoning to the negotiations on EU enlargement and the Treaty of Nice. The starting point is the assumption that accession can only be successfully completed if the interests of decisive actors in present EU countries are respected. Decisive actors in...

Since the start of EMU national fiscal policy in the Eurozone can be conducted almost without paying any attention to consequences for the exchange rate. This might lower fiscal discipline. In order to shed light on the empirical relevance of this consideration, the impact of the exchange rate...

This paper tries to explain the declining level of public investment in OECD countries. The theoretical framework hints to the relevance of a number of demand and supply factors - ranging from the yield of public investment to institutions like the EU deficit limits. The econometric results...

Since March 2020, the Eurosystem has been purchasing government bonds under the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP). The PEPP was set up as a non-standard policy measure to encounter the economic and financial consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and is an additional program to the...

The ECB Council has to take a decision on the future of its asset purchase programmes as the monetary crisis support that was appropriate in the early phase of the pandemic needs to be adjusted to new circumstances. The changing environment is characterized by an advanced recovery from the...

The ECB is about to discontinue its net asset purchases. In December 2021, the ECB Council had already decided to end net purchases under the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) by the end of March 2022. Given the very high and persistent inflation, recent remarks from ECB board members...

In this analysis, we investigate ECB communication by analyzing more than 3,800 speeches from 1999 until 2022. The study measures the attention which ECB Council members pay to various implicit and explicit monetary policy objectives. While price stability, according to the Maastricht Treaty, is...