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.

How to deal with Spain and Ireland?

This is possibly the worst time to bash the ECB. The biggest risk to the euro area aera economy is a meltdown of the Spanish economy, something which the ECB can do nothing about. We need to consider a quid-pro-quo IMF style liquidity injection into the Spanish economy in exchange for assurances on policy changes.

The villains are not the bankers, but the economists

This is not a financial crisis, but a crisis of economic policy. We should thus be sceptical when economists-turned-policy makers produce the same prescriptions now which they have been peddling for the last 15 years.

The consequences of non-ratification

Can a country be excluded from membership of the European Union? The answer is yes as long as there was a political will. This column explains on how this can be done, in all its gory detail.

Ireland is wrong to put its miracle at risk

After a week of what European leaders call reflection, another Irish referendum beckons, to be held early next year. Without it, there might well be an attempt to oust the Irish from the European Union.