The economic and social crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe and around the world is without precedent since World War II if not before. With more than 40 million known cases in Europe in one year, and over 900 000 deaths (March 2020 to March 2021), governments have stepped up their...

This working paper is intended to shed light on a pressing issue: the apparent growth-dependency of European welfare states at a time of weak growth prospects and strong criticisms of growth. Indeed, while the notion of going beyond GDP growth is gaining momentum in the European Union, as...

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether the 'Fit for 55' update of the European Union's CO₂ regulation is up to the task of fixing its past mistakes and putting Europe on course to reach net zero mobility by 2050, while also dealing with the new set of challenges that arises with the...

Die Effizienz der öffentlichen Verwaltung ist ein bedeutender Faktor für die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit von Mitgliedsländern der Europäischen Union und nimmt über verschiedene Kanäle Einfluss auf das unternehmerische Umfeld. Firmen interagieren hierbei in zahlreichen administrativen Schritten...

We study a politician's choice for state or private control of banks. The choice trades of lobbying contributions against social welfare, weighted by political accountability.Politicians facing few constraints prefer state control to maximize their rents. As state banks are less efficient, at...

In the analysis of the credit crisis of 2007-2010 a clear distinction should be made between (i) the initial shock; (ii) the propagation and amplification of the initial shock to the systemic crisis of the financial markets; and (iii) the transmission of the credit crisis to the real economic...