EconPol Policy Briefs

Are convergent growth rates a sine-qua-non condition for a monetary union? Is there any economic tendency towards this outcome? Economist Roberto Tamborini, Università di Trento, says: "Higher growth across Europe is a valuable aim but is the devotion to pro-growth and convergence policies and to the formalisation of the convergence process in Europe's Economic and Monetary Union the correct answer?

“EU agricultural policy seems anachronistic. There is no justification for its dominant position in the EU budget,” says Professor Friedrich Heinemann, head of ZEW’s Research Department “Corporate Taxation and Public Finance” and author of the new ZEW study in cooperation with Bertelsmann Stiftung. The new ZEW study recommends reducing the costs of agricultural subsidies through significant national contributions to agricultural support. “If the Member States wish to privilege their farmers over other economic sectors, they should do so without passing the burden onto European taxpayers,” explains Friedrich Heinemann.