We consider the real life implementation of some key elements of the new economic governance framework for the euro area. The main findings are the following. The Country Specific Recommendations issued in the context of the European Semester seem to be too little ‘specific’ to constrain...

The purpose of this contribution is to illustrate the interaction between oil prices and the global savings equilibrium which can invert the usual IS type relationship between growth and interest rates. Higher growth is usually associated with higher interest rates. But higher growth leads to...

Since the European Council of June 2012, ‘banking union’ is a key item for the EU's policy agenda. This contribution outlines the state of the policy debate – identifying the elements that are missing but important from a theoretical viewpoint. Concrete proposals are made as to how the...

With disparities in national unemployment rates reaching record levels, the debate on fi scal stabilisers in Europe has gained new momentum. Can a European unemployment insurance scheme help to absorb asymmetric shocks and bring about the desired level of macroeconomic stabilisation? What should...

In the aftermath of the financial crisis trust, in the European Central Bank (ECB) has reached an historical low. Taking panel data and using a fixed effects DFGLS estimation for a 12–country sample over the time period 1999 to 2011 with a total of 312 observations, this paper detects a...

Most countries commonly classified as ?in transition? are still recognisably different from other countries with a similar income per capita in some respects: a larger share of their work force is in industry, they use more energy, they have a more extensive infrastructure and invest more in...

This paper reviews the factors that will determine the shape of financial markets under EMU. It argues that financial markets will not be unified by the introduction of the euro. National central banks have a vested interest in preserving local idiosyncracies (e.g. the Wechsels in Germany) and...

There is general agreement that banking supervision and resolution have to be organised at the same level. It is often argued, however, that there is no need to tackle deposit insurance because it is politically too sensitive. This note proposes to apply the principles of subsidiarity and...

In Macroeconomic Policy under the Euro a distinguished group of international economists provide high calibre and accessible analyses of: • the institutional structure of the European system of central banks and how conditions imposed by the Maastricht Treaty have been interpreted to determine...