Traditional approaches use balance sheet assessment to forecast bank rescue costs and often underestimate real costs. Thus, governments commit to bailouts without credible forecasts of costs, which can lead to serious fiscal issues. We propose a new approach based on distributional information...

In this paper we analyze the dynamics of public investment and public finance in new members of the European Union, and also how these sectors were affected by changes in economic freedom and corruption. When we assess the role of regulation and corruption on public investment, we find that...

Public debts in the euro area have increased sharply due to the economic crisis, and remain at historically high levels in several countries. In a monetary union, high-debt members represent a permanent threat to financial stability, as they are subject – even if fundamentally solvent – to...

A mechanism to restructure the debt of an insolvent euro country is a missing element in the emerging institutional architecture of the euro area. The introduction of an insolvency procedure for sovereigns faces a dilemma: In the foreseeable future, its introduction would risk pushing Europe...

A mechanism to restructure the debt of an insolvent euro country is a missing element in the emerging institutional architecture of the euro area. The introduction of an insolvency proce-dure for sovereigns faces a dilemma: In the foreseeable future, its introduction would risk pushing Europe...

The European crisis did not originate with the Euro but with the excessive public debt of peripheral Eurozone countries. The 'great moderation' that had kept the euro sheltered from the storms proved a boon, because it granted the currency the status of a sound asset, but it was also a bane...

Countries with large debts stocks are vulnerable to the vagaries of the markets. Confidence crises can arise out of nowhere, constricting access to the markets. Hence, the question arises as to whether these countries should put in place mechanisms that will help them better prepare for the...

This paper considers the issue of sovereign debts in the Eurozone. The reasons for the reduction of public debt, which are quite strong in the present circumstances of slow growth, are briefly discussed with reference to EMU countries. Then the different possible strategies to reduce the public...

This paper analyzes the causes of the sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone and examines the policy alternatives confronting euro area governments. It suggests that pooling fiscal risks, creating an EU Treasury and issuing jointly-backed euro bonds is an optimal solution and the inevitable...

This paper applies both conventional panel data models and a dynamic simultaneous equations model to analyze the impact of fiscal austerity and growth prospects along with other macro fundamentals on the pricing of sovereign credit default swaps (CDS) for a panel of 36 countries including the...