The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is the permanent crisis resolution mechanism for euro area countries. We analyze the costs of the current (suboptimal) refinancing design of the ESM and evaluate an alternative asset-backed securities (ABS) structure under different scenarios. Our...

The so-called Troika, consisting of the EU-Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was supposed to support the member states of the euro area which had been hit hard by a sovereign debt crisis. For that purpose, economic adjustment programs were...

This paper argues that the loose monetary policy of two of the world’s most important financial institutions-the US Federal Reserve Board and the European Central Bank-were ultimately responsible for the outburst of global financial crisis of 2008 - 09. Unusually low interest rates in 2001 -...