Administrator
Policy Contribution
Ensuring effective recovery spending is a high-stakes challenge for the European Union, with the potential for derailment because of fuzzy objectives and overloaded procedures. The EU should work with member countries to identify limited policies that will maximise the impact of EU investment, while accounting for spillovers.
Opinion
It is time to rethink many of the basic principles of our economic model to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Working Paper
European Union countries can reduce inequality of opportunity through public spending and tax decisions. Broadly, the most effective approach includes progressive taxes and inheritance taxes, spending on education, health and public infrastructure, and better government effectiveness. Better fiscal rules and institutions also increase resilience against crises.
External Publication
This briefing paper focuses on two aspects of the EU fiscal framework: whether an expenditure rule would be more reliable than a structural budget balance rule and the possible benefits and drawbacks of introducing a golden rule to exclude certain types of investment from the operational fiscal rule.
Blog Post
As an international currency, the euro has always been a distant second to the dollar. The idea of a greater international role for the euro has been floated, but without major institutional reform, the euro will not become a dominant currency.
External Publication
In this paper, the author looks at the implications arising from the focus of the Recovery and Resilience Plans in the context of the European Semester.
Blog Post
A Joe Biden Administration would have to decide to what extent to unpick the major United States trade policy shifts of the last four years. A quick return to comprehensive trade talks with the European Union is unlikely and the US will remain focused on its rivalry with China. Nevertheless, there would be areas for EU/US cooperation, not least World Trade Organisation reform.
Blog Post
To deliver on the goals of the European climate law, the European Union needs finally to get coal out of its energy mix: the EU should quicken the pace of decarbonisation whilst delivering on its goal of social inclusion.
Parliamentary Testimony
Testimony before the European Parliament on the International Role of the Euro.
Blog Post
In March and April 2020, European governments announced massive credit support programmes. After an initial surge, take-up appears to be stabilising (with a lag in Italy), despite second wave shocks in some countries. More recent data confirms that fiscal capacity has not visibly constrained national governments in the support they have provided so far.
Opinion
If Donald Trump loses the United States presidential election in November, he will ultimately be seen to have left little mark in many areas. But in the US's relationship with China, the decoupling of economic links could continue, and that could force Europe into hard choices.
Blog Post
The plan to fund the European Union’s recovery programme via debt issuance has raised hopes that a new type of euro-denominated safe asset could emerge. As a priority, the European Commission needs a strategy to create a liquid and transparent market in EU bonds. For now, funding through EU green bonds would complicate that effort.
