The lamppost theory of economic policy -- Clashing civilizations -- Lost horizons? -- Madison's curse meets Madison Avenue -- The media are the messengers -- Murphy's law of economic policy -- Wanted: hard-headed but soft-hearted policies -- Trade disagreements -- With liberty and inequality for...

The Euro area faces zero inflation paired with low economic growth, at a time when the effective lower bound on nominal interest rates and large budget deficits are constraining conventional monetary and fiscal policy. In this article, we discuss the theoretical and empirical evidence on...