With the advent of the digital revolution in the 1990s, productivity growth in the EU began to slip behind that in the US and other leading trading partners. This trend has undermined the comparative ability of European firms to compete and to provide rewarding jobs and a high standard of...

Combining in-house research and work by leading academics, this report assesses how the crisis has impacted investment across the non-financial sector, in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in infrastructure, and in R&D and innovation. It explains why and where investment has declined,...

Europe faces a twofold economic challenge. Post crisis, Europe still suffers from weak confidence, with would-be investors across Europe sitting on ample liquidity but afraid to invest, while deleveraging goes on in both the public and private sector. From a structural point of view Europe faces...

Die aktuelle Schuldenkrise hat abermals gezeigt, daß Abweichungen von vereinbarten Schuldendienstzahlungen und somit Schuldendienstprobleme inhärente Begleiterscheinungen internationaler Kreditbeziehungen sind. Aufbauend auf der Hypothese, daß die Existenz potentieller Schuldendienstprobleme...

Recognising and discussing the elusiveness of industrial policy as a distinct policy concept, this paper argues against what probably is the most extreme type of so-called "vertical" industrial policy, that is, support for national or European champions. It also critically reviews the rationale...