The paper discusses the proposals of the EU Commission for the reform of the EU fiscal rules. Against the background of the devel-opment of the rules and the experience with the compliance, it becomes clear that the proposals represent a change of course. The decentral-iszed responsibility in...

The paper discusses the proposals of the EU Commission for the reform of the EU fiscal rules. Against the background of the devel-opment of the rules and the experience with the compliance, it becomes clear that the proposals represent a change of course. The decentral-iszed responsibility in...

This paper reviews the evolution of the Economic and Monetary Union from its inception in 1992 with the Treaty of Maastricht to the most recent reforms adopted in 2013 to respond to the eurocrisis. The paper describes the evolution of the four pillar of economic governance: the surveillance and...

We study the determinants of sovereign bond yield spreads across 10 EMU countries between Q1/1999 and Q1/2010. We apply a semiparametric time-varying coefficient model to identify, to what extent an observed change in the yield spread is due to a shift in macroeconomic fundamentals or due to...

In the discussions of the need for fiscal rules and their usefulness in a monetary union researchers have not agreed on whether the financial markets have a sufficiently disciplining effect on the governments, which would mean that the fiscal rules are not necessary. This paper investigates...

We assess the sustainability of public finances in the EU15 over the period 1970-2006 using stationarity and cointegration analysis. Specifically, we use panel unit root tests of the first and second generation allowing in some cases for structural breaks. We also apply modern panel...

Unlike the crisis years of 2007-2009 (when the insolvency of large banks was a major problem), the current round of the global financial crisis has fiscal origins. Almost all developed countries suffer from an excessive public debt burden that has been built up over the last two decades or more....

While the financial protection measures enacted by the ECB and the community of Eurozone members have calmed financial markets, they have left the competitiveness problem of the Eurozone's southern countries and France unresolved. The paper compares price inflation before the crisis with the...

Unlike the crisis years of 2007-2009 (when the insolvency of large banks was a major problem), the current round of the global financial crisis has fiscal origins. Almost all developed countries suffer from an excessive public debt burden that has been built up over the last two decades or more....

Euroland is in a crisis that is slowly but surely spreading from one periphery country to another; it will eventually reach the center. The blame is mostly heaped upon supposedly profligate consumption by Mediterraneans. But that surely cannot apply to Ireland and Iceland. In both cases, these...