Can the IMF Save the World?

By: Barry Eichengreen, University of California, Berkeley

Only if the IMF comes up with some new ideas.

Germany's nuclear paranoia

By: Wolfgang Münchau

In my latest FT Deutschland column, I argue that the German Social Democrats are in a right mess over nuclear. This entry contains an English synopsis, and the original column in German.

The MiFID Directive - This is Briefingnote is presented by EurActiv

The MiFID, a cornerstone of the Financial Services Action Plan, was proposed in November 2002 to update the existing Investment Services Directive (ISD) of 1993. It was designed to cope with, and to further enable, the increased level of cross-border investment transactions, which had shown an annual increase of 20-25% in the years from 1996.

Time to play hardball with the Irish

There are only two solutions to the Irish dilemma, both involving the retention of the Lisbon Treaty: Offer the Irish a meaningless protocol that provides guarantees they already have, or force them out of the EU.

Time to decouple from the Fed

The US and Europeanj economies might not be decoupled, but the central banks are. The ECB is not only justified in purusing a different approach. It is likely to succeed as well.

A tale of two countries

France is reforming, Germany is not only not reforming, but anti-reforming, with new minimum and soon perhaps maximum wages. So why is everybody so optimistic about Germany, and so pessimistic about France?

Lessons from the 1970s

There is no prospect of a global depression. Our single most important problem is the rise in inflation at a global level, which the world's largest central banks have underestimated. The situaiton is worst in the US where we are seeing a return to the Arthur Burns Fed.