Weniger Briefe aus Brüssel
A summary of my talk at ifo institute in Süddeutsche Zeitung: SZ_Artikel_Weniger_Briefe_aus Brüssel (1) ...
Read more
Europe must seize this moment of opportunity
This opinion piece was published on Spiegel Online, Le Monde, El Economista and Bruegel. After years of despondency, there is new and positive momentum in Europe. With the French electing Emmanuel Macron and a broad reco...
Read more
Eurozone or EU budget? Confronting a complex political question
This week’s European Commission reflection paper is the latest document to ponder a distinction between EU and euro-area budgets. But do we need to split the two, and what would each budget be used for? In this post, I p...
Read more
What could a euro-area finance minister do?
With the election of Emmanuel Macron as president of France, the idea of a euro-area treasury and finance minister is back in the limelight. The election programme of Emmanuel Macron calls for “a budget for the euro area...
Read more
The global decline in the labour income share: is capital the answer to Germany’s current account surplus?
This policy contribution was published by Bruegel. Please find the pdf here. The piece was nicely covered by Martin Wolf in the FT. This paper links the major divergences between the three largest euro-area countries in ...
Read more
What future for Europe?
The Commission’s White Paper on the future of the EU sets out five scenarios, but misses some of the fundamental questions facing Europe. How should the EU interact with its neighbourhood? How can we manage the ten...
Read more
What impact does the ECB’s quantitative easing policy have on bank profitability?
Quantitative easing (QE) affects banks’ profitability in three main ways. First, as QE drives up bond prices, banks holding such bonds see their balance sheets strengthened. Second, QE reduces long-term yields and thereb...
Read more
What are the prerequisites for a euro-area fiscal capacity?
This paper is a background note for a presentation at the Informal ECOFIN meeting of EU finance ministers and central bank governors in Bratislava on September 9, 2016. policy contribution, summary sent to ministers, spe...
Read more