Eurozone or EU budget? Confronting a complex political question
This week’s European Commission reflection paper is the latest document to ponder a distinction between EU and euro-area budgets. But do we need to split the two, and what would each budget be used for? In this post, I p...
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Auf die Frauen kommt es an
My op-ed in Süddeutsche Zeitung. Published in English here in various other newspapers. Die G20 hat kürzlich ihre Aufmerksamkeit auf Afrika gerichtet. Die Finanzminister der G20 Länder haben eine „Compact with Afr...
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How export growth achieved adjustment of massive trade deficits in the euro area
The correction of several euro area countries’ external imbalances began almost 10 years ago. A number of euro area countries ran massive current account deficits in 2007/8. With 15.2% of GDP, Greece had the largest defi...
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How the G20 should change its approach to migration and development in Africa
Versions of this article have also been published in Capital, The Daily Telegraph, Dienas Bizness, Nikkei Asian Review, Nikkei Veritas, Süddeutsche Zeitung. The G20 has recently turned its eyes on Africa. Its fina...
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What could a euro-area finance minister do?
With the election of Emmanuel Macron as president of France, the idea of a euro-area treasury and finance minister is back in the limelight. The election programme of Emmanuel Macron calls for “a budget for the euro area...
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Brexit will change millions of lives. Our leaders must do more than posture
My latest opinion piece in The Guardian/ The Observer. Brexit negotiations have got off to a bad start: that much at least is clear. The leaking of details about May and Juncker’s dinner conversation was unhelpful. Domes...
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Europa sinnvoll gestalten
This opinion piece was published in FAZ on Friday, 28 April, 2017. Weder gute Wachstums- und Beschäftigungszahlen noch das schlechter als erwartete Abschneiden des Populisten Geert Wilders können darüber hinwegtäu...
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The global decline in the labour income share: is capital the answer to Germany’s current account surplus?
This policy contribution was published by Bruegel. Please find the pdf here. The piece was nicely covered by Martin Wolf in the FT. This paper links the major divergences between the three largest euro-area countries in ...
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