Greece and the euro area need a deal within days, not months
International press informs us that the Greek government believes it has weeks or perhaps months to negotiate a new deal with its creditors. The basic idea of the new Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis is that Greec...
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The ECB has fired its bazooka
The ECB announced today an expansion of its asset purchases, to include securities issued by European agencies and institutions, as well as central government in the euro area. Purchases are intended to be continued unti...
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The ECB’s bond-purchase dilemma
German opposition to government-bond purchases by the European Central Bank is solidifying ahead of the programme’s likely announcement on January 22. Elections in Greece that could bring a government that will seek to n...
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Die EZB ist verpflichtet, ihr Mandat zu erfüllen
Die Europäische Zentralbank (EZB) wird wohl am 22. Januar ein Ankaufprogramm für Staatsanleihen ankündigen. Die Sorgen über die Auswirkungen und die Effektivität des Programms sind groß. Die EZB muss vorsichtig die Koste...
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Sovereign QE and national central banks
Inflation continues to fall. The first outright deflation numbers since 2009 have been recorded and inflation expectations are clearly dis-anchored. Inflation and inflation expectations are now clearly below the 1.7 to 1...
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Why Grexit would not help Greece
The genie is out of the bottle: Europe is again discussing the possibility of Greece leaving the euro. With it, the debate has re-emerged whether this would be helpful or not for Greece and whether there would be contagi...
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How can Europe escape recession in 2015?
2014 will be remembered for two major unexpected developments. First, the European Union was caught by surprise by the return of geopolitics. The annexation of Crimea, the military conflict in Ukraine and the increasing ...
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European banking union and financial integration
At a famous summit in June 2012, the European leaders announced that they intend to “break the vicious circle” between banks and sovereigns. This decision started a new step in European integration. Arguably, the creatio...
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Licht- und Schattenseiten einer Gemeinsamen Arbeitslosenversicherung
Das Problem: Die Arbeitslosigkeit in Europa ist in große Höhen angestiegen. Gleichzeitig bleibt das Wirtschaftswachstum gedämpft. Deshalb ist es an der Zeit, eine Debatte über mögliche zusätzliche wirtschaftspolitische I...
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