Both the action and the communication strategy of the ECB rely on the assumption, explicitly stated, that inflation is always a monetary phenomenon, and that the interest rate instrument should be devoted exclusively to dealing with inflation pressures. According to this prior, the ECB...

This paper should be read as complementary to my last briefing paper (N3, September 2001) The European policy mix At its meeting on 8 November, the Governing Council of the ECB decided to reduce the minimum bid rate on the main refinancing operations of the Eurosystem by 50 basis points to...

The reversal in the trend of productivity growth between the US and the UK on one side, and the main countries of continental Europe on the other, appears with great evidence from the data. The current debate focuses on differences in labour market performance, which should account for the...

Current forecasts for Europe are currently grounded on a compromise between two alternative hypothesis, which I will describe in a stylised way. According to the first which may be called the big economy assumption, the European economy not being poisoned by structural desequilibria – the huge...

The two recent macroeconomic shocks that hit the world economy - the surge of oil and food prices and the subprime crisis – have revived the attention of policy makers and economists on the consequences of shocks, symmetric and asymmetric, and on the appropriateness of the EMU institutional...

There is a mounting discontent in Europe about the conduct of macroeconomic policy in the euro area and especially its policy mix, in the broad sense of the term – the combination of monetary policy, fiscal policy and structural reforms. If the proof of the pudding is in the eating, the weak...

The European "sovereignty paradox" may be summarized as follows: National States and/or the European Parliament, that are the instances in which resides the democratic legitimacy to implement policies and to react to events affecting the economy, are not endowed with the instruments to act or...

The issue of whether globalization has yielded structural changes in the process of inflation is crucial for the definition of the role of monetary policy, and for an assessment of the strategies followed by central banks around the world. This briefing paper will first frame the argument by...

The ECB has a very clear idea of what European governments should do in the name of ‘sound’ economic management: balance the budget, reduce the role of the state in the economy by cutting public expenditures; increase the flexibility of labour markets by shrinking the welfare state (see for...

Le rapport qui nous est présenté ici, constitue une véritable somme sur la politique française d'aide publique au développement (...). La partie historique et ses conclusions en termes de fondements de l'aide publique au développement est particulièrement intéressante : elle éclaire de...