Raising the competition: The case of Italy

Silvia Merler, Jean Pisani-Ferry, 2 April 2012Many analysts and observers have put forward that the euro crisis is a balance-of-payments crisis at least as much as a fiscal crisis. This column provides evidence of capital-flow reversals in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and Italy.

Ard den Reijer, Marga Peeters, 3 January 2012While EU leaders are drafting a fiscal compact, the problem of intra-European real exchange-rate misalignments remains. This column argues that reducing imbalances implies a focus on competitiveness, and hence on the alignment of nominal-wage growth with labour-productivity growth. Full Article: Wages and productivity in the Eurozone

Anton Brender, Emile Gagna, Florence Pisani, 21 June 2012Is austerity in the Eurozone doomed to fail? This column argues that Eurozone governments have to acknowledge that their response to the sovereign crises has been wrong. Bringing budgets back to balance as quickly as possible and at any cost for growth is a recipe for disaster.Full Article: The Eurozone: Choked by an accounting identity

Jean Pisani-Ferry, André Sapir, Guntram Wolff, 9 November 2011Europe’s surveillance of its highly-indebted countries has come under strong criticism. But these countries were also under the watch of another institution, the IMF. This column presents a report showing that the Fund is hardly without fault itself.Full Article: IMF surveillance of the Eurozone: Quo Vadis?

Charles Wyplosz, 16 September 2011Europe’s debt crisis is unfolding while Japanese and US debt problems are on hold. The problem of public debt in advanced economies will be with us for decades. This column introduces a new Geneva Report on the World Economy that addresses the nuts, bolts, and worries surrounding the issue.Full Article: Public debt in the Eurozone, Japan, and the US

Zsolt Darvas, Jean Pisani-Ferry, André Sapir, 28 February 2011It is well over a year since concerns over debt sustainability in Greece began spilling out to the rest of the Eurozone. The crisis continues. This column presents a three-part plan aiming to clean up the banks, reduce Greece’s public debt, and foster growth in the peripheral economies.Full Article: A three-part plan to tackle the Eurozone debt crisis

Over the last year or so I've often screamed calmly noted that the unbiased, non-partisan folks at the Congressional Research Service (CRS) have repeatedly examined the US-China currency issue and have repeatedly found that significant appreciation of the RMB will have little effect on the US-China trade balance or overall US economic welfare.