News Archive

The Founding Conference „The Euro – Which Way to Go?“addressed a unique networking occasion for 200 top economists and representatives of institutions and media, headed by German ifo Institute.

Economic growth in many euro area countries is fairly closely aligned, while unemployment figures tend to vary more, according to the latest calculations by the EconPol Europe research network. Based on closely aligned developments across EU states between 1999 and 2014, the authors from the Munich-based ifo Institute and Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Studies conclude that state transfers aimed at stabilising Europe’s economy across national borders would only have a very limited impact. For shocks impacting the Eurozone as a whole, such a system could even trigger effects that exacerbate the crisis. “The deeper integration of capital markets would be a more effective way of helping the system to cope with economic shocks,” said ifo President Clemens Fuest, one of the co-authors of the paper.

Accountability bonds revive market discipline in the Eurozone without endangering fiscal and financial stability - and they address the various concerns from difference sides. Clemens Fuest (ifo Institute) and Friedrich Heinemann (ZEW) have proposed the new type of bonds for overcoming the debt crisis in the Eurozone two years ago. In our new EconPol Policy Brief, the two EconPol network members revisit their concept of accountability bonds in the light of current developments, respond to criticism and explain why they are an innovative instrument that stand a real chance of building a consensus, now more than ever.

Under the pressure of the 2008 crisis serious flaws have emerged in the design of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) as a supranational architecture which aims at generating and distributing collective benefits from integration among highly interdependent countries. If we agree that more Europe is needed, we shall urgently ask "Which Europe?". Economists Luciano Andreozzi and Roberto Tamborini from EconPol Europe network partner Università di Trento introduce here an interesting policy game setup of two interdependent countries where each sovereign government seeks to optimise its own welfare function reflecting social preferences over policy options and their outcomes. Read here why the strategy of further integration by an extended system of binding rules enforced by technocratic agencies may be unsuccessful and which consequences should be drawn.

Spanish cohesion is currently facing a severe test in the chaotic conflict surrounding the referendum on Catalan independence. Of particular importance is the fiscal dimension of the issue. A highly influential argument of the independence movement is pointed to the financial burden placed on the region combined with Catalonia’s limited budgetary autonomy. EconPol network member Friedrich Heinemann/Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) shows: This is an experience that Europe should pay extremely close attention to, given the ambitious reform proposals currently discussed for the EU and the euro area many of which point to greater centralisation.