Policymakers in the EU member states are currently shaping rescue packages to prevent the financial crisis hitting their economies with unmitigated force. Each government is responding to the emerging problems with a country-specific set of measures. Given the global nature of the crisis, would...

With disparities in national unemployment rates reaching record levels, the debate on fiscal stabilisers in Europe has gained new momentum. Can a European unemployment insurance scheme help to absorb asymmetric shocks and bring about the desired level of macroeconomic stabilisation? What should...

Positive spillovers from structural and other reforms figure among the key reasons for the Lisbon and the Europe 2020 Strategies. This paper investigates the theoretical and empirical evidence for such spillovers and shows that the need for coordination in some policy areas is less evident than...