Some papers, for reasons which remain at least partially obscure, leave a persistent trace in intellectual history. Such is the case with Keynes’ paper “Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren”, although it never attracted much attention within the economic profession, besides...

The paper endorses the thesis that current macro imbalances are partly due to an excess of household savings in China, whose origin is to be found among other things in household uncertainty about the provision of public services like health care, pensions and education. Focusing on health...

Economic theory tells us that even when mainly concerned with price stability, a central bank should target economic activity. This because on one side the effects of monetary policy on prices pass through economic activity, and on the other economic activity is a good indicator of expected (and...

In this paper, we try to point out some important weaknesses of the contemporary French socialeconomic model, focusing on relevant elements of comparison with Nordic countries. In doing so, we rely on the idea that large and small countries differ in terms of growth and governance strategies....

This paper reviews the arguments for and against the “Stability and Growth Pact.” We find the theoretical debate to be inconclusive, as both externality and credibility arguments can be used to yield opposite and plausible conclusions. Empirical evidence in favor of a Pact-like rule is also...

In this paper, we try to point out some important weaknesses of the contemporary French socialeconomic model, focusing on relevant elements of comparison with Nordic countries. In doing so, we rely on the idea that large and small countries differ in terms of growth and governance strategies....

On s'aperçoit, en passant en revue différents modèles théoriques, que les économistes de tout bord sont d'accord pour reconnaître l'utilité des aides à l'embauche. Dans un pays où les rémunérations les plus basses sont néanmoins relativement élevées, les aides à l'embauche ont...

The application of the policies prescribed by the Washington Consensus in developing countries is the subject of a vast literature. What is much less known is that there exist only one pure laboratory experiment implementing the Washington Consensus in the western world: Europe. The aim of this...

A consumption tax amounts to exempt savings from taxation. As such, it would have important distributional effects, first of all from the poor to the rich, but also towards capital intensive industries; and intergenerational, away from the very young (students) and the old. For what concerns...

The current crisis is testing the capacity of policy makers to give adequate answers to the possibility of a major financial meltdown. The crisis began in the subprime sector, a relatively small segment of the mortgage industry. It is thanks to an insufficiently regulated system of financial...