Money market on strike

By: Casper de Vries (Erasmus University Rotterdam) and Jon Danielsson (LSE)

A proposal on how to address information asymmetry.

My three point plan for the G20

By: Wolfgang Münchau

Coordinate a stimulus, pool the euro area's seats at the IMF, and start thinking about exchange rates.

Why the European Debate on Competitiveness is going nowhere

Raising competitiveness has been the prime goal of economic policy in Europe. But is it a sensible goal? Those who favour a competitiveness-based approach often make false analogies between enterprises and countries. Countries do not compete in the way companies do. Trade among countries is not about profit but about the division of labour. It can benefit all by raising productivity. A more meaningful concept of competitiveness at the national level defines a competitive country as one that can maintain high rates of growth and employment in the medium term. This concept focuses on the country’s ability to provide its citizens with high and rising standards of living in the medium and long run.

Economic reforms in the euro area: Is there a common agenda? by Xavier Debrun and Jean Pisani-Ferry, Bruegel

Despite the recent growth revival, the state of the euro area economy remains vexingly disappointing. What is taking place is too little, too late and the very fact that output growth only started to pick up in the fourth year of the global recovery suggests that something must be wrong. Against this background, the overriding priority remains to design and implement policy packages aiming at: Increasing potential output through higher employment, higher labour participation, and higher productivity; Ensuring that actual output does not lag behind gains in potential output.