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.

Ben's depression

By: Wolfgang Münchau

A return to a monetary policy to stabilise prices ended the Great Depression in the 1930s. This time it will work the other way round. Once the Fed is forced back onto a path of price stability, our depression will begin.

The Euro at £0.93 and $1.44

As eurozone economy tanks, a fast appreciate euro poses another threat; bond yields drop in US and in Europe following the Fed’s decision to adopt a policy of quantitative easing; EU softens anti-dumping rules during crisis; Germany plans next stimulus on January 12; President Nicholas Sarkozy, meanwhile, now wants a directorate to run the euro area, while the Czech and Swedes hold the EU presidency.

A primer on the EU's Reform Treaty

By: Andrew Duff, MEP

This is an update version of Andrew Duff's analysis of the agreement on the Reform Treaty, and the mandate for the IGC.

Sarkozy jeopardises the future of the euro area

By: Wolfgang Münchau

Germany is heading for a balanced budget by 2011. France is heading for a fiscal shock. An old conflict is re-emerging, and it could prove highly destabilising for the euro area in the medium term.

EMU: Divergence or Convergence?

By: Nouriel Roubini, New York University and RGE Monitor

Has the process of monetary unification in Europe led to economic convergence or economic divergence in the Eurozone since 1999? The experience has been mixed. While growth divergence has not increased since 1999 there are a number of strains in this monetary union: asymmetric shocks, asset bubbles caused by common monetary policy, labor market rigidities, lack of adjustment of real exchange rates, limited role of risk insurance through financial channels, lack of risk sharing via federal fiscal policies.

What about Core Europe?

The Treaty marks and masks the growing division of Europe. Core Europe has always been an inevitability, the only question was how it would come about.