We run a standard income convergence analysis for the last decade and confirm an already established finding in the growth economics literature. EU countries are converging. Regions in Europe are also converging. But, within countries, regional disparities are on the rise. At the same time,...

The EU is in the process of negotiating its 2014-20 financial framework. Failure to reach an agreement would imply a delay in the preparation of the strategic plans each member state puts together to explain how it will use Structural and Cohesion Funds. Even if solutions are found â?? for...

For markets, European economic governance faces a crisis of policy effectiveness, while for citizens the European Union faces a democratic legitimacy crisis. The introduction of the European Semester economic policy surveillance system has not resolved these problems. Policy guidance deriving...

Combining economic and political science perspectives, this timely and important book describes and analyses the circumstances and events leading to the demise and subsequent reform of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP).

The strengthening of the European Unionâ??s fiscal rules with the approval of the so-called â??six-packâ??, and the parallel worsening of economic conditions in Europe, re-opened the debate about the relationship between fiscal discipline and growth. Influential voices have argued against the...

This paper offers a simple theoretical model and some suggestive empirical evidence on the open economy New Keynesian Phillips Curve (NKPC) based on Blanchard's chain-of-production model (1983). It is here argued that, given a vertical input-output structure of production, the final stage comes...

At the extraordinary EU Council of 21 July European leaders have to accomplish a triple-mission. First, they should pave the way to restoring solvency in Greece by initiating debt reduction. Softening the Greek debt burden implies i) reducing the interest rate on official lending, ii) requesting...

The European Semester is a new institutional process that provides EU member states with ex-ante guidance on fiscal and structural objectives. The Semesterâ??s goals are ambitious and it is still uncertain how it will fit into the new EU economic governance framework. We find that member states...

This policy brief argues that the euro area's shortcomings have become abundantly clear. It was set up without powers of strict surveillance over macroeconomic imbalances, crisis management and resolution instruments, or adequate banking supervision and resolution tools. The authors assert that...