Most technocrats argue that creating the euro was a way of forcing the pace of political integration, since monetary union is not possible without political union. We disagree and instead put forward four minimal conditions for the survival of the euro. Political integration in Europe has its...

During the pandemic, governments increased their expenditures drastically. According to IMF projections, the debt-to-GDP ratio in advanced countries will be 18 percentage points higher by the end of 2021 than before the pandemic and 10 percentage points higher in emerging markets. With rising...

In these highly uncertain times, flexibility has value.

This lecture discusses the work by the Estonian economist Ragnar Nurkse (1907-1959). It focuses on the early Nurkse, who was concerned with exchange rates, capital flows and what today we call the international financial architecture. It asks how many of the conclusions of International Currency...

Historical experience suggests that network infrastructure can be reoriented and reconstructed relatively quickly in postwar Ukraine, with the central government playing a coordinating role. Repair of the housing stock may take longer, and chronic housing shortages leading to inadequate labor...