We study whether and to what extent EU countries implement recommendations on macroeconomic imbalances given by the EU in the so-called European Semester. We assess how recommendations have evolved since 2013, based on a new database. We also study how EU recommendations on addressing...

The "Brexit bill" is an expected payment to be made by the United Kingdom that would settle its financial commitments when it leaves the European Union.While authors of this Working Paper consider the financial settlement the least important economic issue in the Brexit negotiations, a...

We analyse the use of active labour market policy (ALMP) measures and short-time work arrangements (STWAs) by Luxembourg firms during the years of economic and financial crisis (2008-09) and the subsequent European sovereign debt crisis (2010-13). About 34% of Luxembourg firms used ALMPs between...

After reaching historically low levels in the first half of 2016, European long-term sovereign yields experienced a notable increase in the second half of 2016 and at the beginning of 2017, before stabilising in the last few months. The nominal long-term interest rate can be decomposed into the...

Housing bubbles are a well-known source of financial instability. In addition, given the importance of this sector to the economy, the collapse of such bubbles tends to be followed by deeper recessions and slower recoveries than other crises, as the recent boom-bust housing cycles in many...

We use a newly-compiled dataset to investigate whether and why European Union countries implement the economic policy recommendations they receive from the EU. We find that implementation rates are modest and have worsened at a time when the economic environment has improved and market pressure...