The ECB and the Fed

By: Charles Wyplosz, Graduate Institute of International Studies

Facing different situations, the Fed and the ECB muddle through, each in its own way.

The case against a Grand Coalition in 2009

By: Wolfgang Münchau

Forget all this hogwash about the responsibility of the cenrtre. Grand coalitions are undemocratic.

Fiscal Stimulus: Is more needed?

By: Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Greg Hannsgen and Gennaro Zezza

According to the authors' calculation, the credit crunch implies a fall in private expenditure of about $100bn due to reduced household borrowing, and a fall of about $160bn in expenditure due to reduced nonfinancial business borrowing. The shock to output from the financial crisis will be around $260bn each quarter this year. A fiscal stimulus given in one period only, and taken away in the next, will hardly change the picture.

Fiscal Action Versus Monetary Stimulus? A Faulty Comparison

By: Volker Wieland, Goethe University of Frankfurt

Recent calls for fiscal stimulus in the United States have been based in part on papers that claim that targeted fiscal stimulus can boost economic activity more rapidly than monetary policy with less impact on inflation. In this brief, I evaluate that claim in the context of several well-known economic models.

The cause of tax evasion are taxes

By: Wolfgang Münchau

Germany's jihad against tax evaders is a macroeconomic non-event.

Getting desperate

There is clear blue water between us and the Americans