Download or read book Macroeconomic Imbalances and Comparative Advantages in the Euro Area written by Stefan Collignon and published by ETUI. This book was released on 2012 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The emergence of macroeconomic imbalances among EU member states is often seen as a major underlying factor of the recent European debt crisis. In order to identify and tackle these imbalances, the European authorities established, in 2011, a new surveillance tool incorporating rules to prevent future imbalances and labelled the Excessive Imbalance Procedure (EIP). Stefan Collignon argues that the premises of the Excessive Imbalance Procedure are in fact wrong, and its implementation therefore misguided, in that they take for granted the policy framework of the nation state whereas the Euro Area economy is, in reality, integrated into a single market with a single currency, such that so-called ‘foreign’ debt is, effectively, debt to other residents in the Euro Area. The author demonstrates, furthermore, that strict adherence to the EIP could, in conjunction with other new economic governance instruments, entail devastating consequences for peripheral countries in the European Union. Following his observation that current indicators used by the Commission fail to provide a correct or accurate assessment of imbalances in the Euro Area, the author devises a new ‘Competitive Index’, calculated as the difference between actual and equilibrium unit labour costs, which he recommends as an alternative and better indicator in the context of the Alert Mechanism Reports to be issued by the European Commission in the future.

Download or read book Macroeconomic Imbalances in Euro and Non Euro Area Member States written by Daniela Bobeva and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The recent reforms in the European economic governance framework add to the Stability and Growth pact requirements for establishing a new macroeconomic surveillance mechanism for both euro area and non-euro area countries. The early identification and the prevention of imbalances are of vital importance in a monetary union due to the limitations they impose on the tools available to economic policymaking. This paper examines the macroeconomic imbalances in the euro area countries in comparison with the non-euro area countries based on the set of indicators in the Scoreboard that is part of the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure (MIP), introduced in 2011.While the aim of the new alert mechanism is to identify potential risks this study goes further in measuring the level of risks by the scope of the deviation from the established thresholds. For this purpose an Integral Macroeconomic Imbalance Indicator (IMII) is constructed. It serves for comparing the level of imbalances between the countries in pre- and post-crisis period. The composed IMII indicates a tangible reduction in the scale of imbalances as compared to the pre-crisis period but the divergence between the countries enlarges. The results undermine the assumptions that the euro area countries will exhibit fewer imbalances as compared to the countries outside of the monetary union. Based on the dynamics of IMII it could be assumed that maintaining the macroeconomic framework within the thresholds is necessary but not sufficient to prevent future crisis. The results further question the ability of the alert mechanism to identify the sources of a future crisis.

Download or read book Adjustment in Euro Area Deficit Countries written by Mr.Thierry Tressel and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2014-07-14 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imbalances within the euro area have been a defining feature of the crisis. This paper provides a critical analysis of the ongoing rebalancing of euro area “deficit economies” (Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain) that accumulated large current account deficits and external liability positions in the run-up to the crisis. It shows that relative price adjustments have been proceeding gradually. Real effective exchange rates have depreciated by 10-25 percent, driven largely by reductions in unit labor costs due to labor shedding. While exports have typically rebounded, subdued demand accounts for much of the reduction in current account deficits. Hence, the current account balance of the euro area as a whole has shifted into surplus. Internal rebalancing has come with subdued activity—notably very high unemployment in the deficit economies—and made continued adjustment more difficult. To advance rebalancing further, the paper emphasizes the need for: (1) macroeconomic policies that support demand and bring inflation in line with the ECB’s medium-term price stability objective; (2) continued EMU reforms (banking union) to ensure proper financial intermediation; and (3) structural reforms in product and labor markets to improve productivity and support the reallocation of resources to tradable sectors.

Download or read book Economic Imbalances and Institutional Changes to the Euro and the European Union written by Rajmund Mirdala and published by Emerald Group Publishing. This book was released on 2017-08-22 with total page 477 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a critical perspective from which to observe evolution of the Euro Area and the European Union in these times of growing economic and political conflict.

Download or read book Scoreboard for the Surveillance of Macroeconomic Imbalances written by European Commission. Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The design of the initial scoreboard is presented in the first Alert Mechanism Report (AMR) issued by the Commission on 14 February 2012. This paper adds to the AMR by describing in more detail the rationale of the different indicators, the choices made in the selection process and how they should be economically understood in the context of the MIP. The scoreboard consists of a set of ten indicators with indicative thresholds: two indicators aim at monitoring external positions, three indicators capture competitiveness developments and the subsequent five indicators reflect internal imbalances." (EU Bookshop).

Download or read book Causes and Consequences of Economic Imbalances Comparison of US Asia and Europe written by Ariane Hillig and published by Anchor Academic Publishing (aap_verlag). This book was released on 2014-03 with total page 93 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the past ten years, huge economic imbalances among US-Asia as well as eurozone countries have built up which have led to numerous crisis situations. Thus, the goal of this book is to find out if economic imbalances are sustainable or if they need to be rebalanced? What role do distinct national policies play? The author is going to compare the imbalances of US-China with the intra-euro imbalances of Germany, Spain and Italy. Firstly, the historical development of the economic imbalances is presented in order to point out the unprecedented height of the mentioned imbalances. Furthermore, the author is analyzing the causes of imbalances by presenting the development of the competitiveness, the saving-/investment rates, the financial markets as well as the different national policies. It is shown that distinct national policies were the underlying causes for the development of such high economic imbalances. After having seen the historical development as well as the causes, the author describes the possible costs and benefits of having imbalances as well as the implications of the global financial crisis and the current European crisis. Due to the increasing globalization, the financial crisis spread fast and led to huge losses and decreasing investor’s trust in European countries. This resulted in the European crisis which subsequently could also endanger the global economy. Because of the huge crisis’ impact, traditional and alternative balancing channels are also compared. Despite supporting measures such as restrictive fiscal policies and financial assistance, Europe is still suffering from an economic downturn whereas the US returned to a slow economic recovery. At the end, the author concludes that global imbalances need to be rebalanced in order not to avoid reaching an unsustainable level. The occurring as well as rebalancing of economic imbalances highly depends on distinct national policies. Unless the international coordination and cooperation increases, economic imbalances will continue to occur and will lead to economic crises when reaching an unsustainable level.

Download or read book In Search of a New Equilibrium written by Paolo Canofari and published by Edizioni Nuova Cultura. This book was released on 2015 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book shows that the overcoming of the negative imbalances in the current accounts of the large majority of peripheral Member States in the euro area is mainly due to a recession-driven decrease in import, a monetary wage compression, and below average rates of inflation. This re-equilibrating process thus leads to short-term adjustments, in the sense that it is unable to structurally fill the competitive gaps accumulated inside the euro area during the first decade of its life (1999-2007), owing to the inefficient allocation of the financial flows coming from the European central countries and invested in the European peripheral countries. Contrary to the predictions of the standard macroeconomic models based on the “catching up” mechanism, these financial flows did not adequately foster the productivity of lagged Member States in the euro area. Our proposal is to replace the “invisible hand” of the market with the “visible hand” of a European policy project. We argue that an effective policy initiative would have to combine a programme of European public and private investments with “contractual arrangements” aimed at implementing crucial national reforms. This strategy might provide a short term positive demand shock as well as the long term strengthening of the structural competitiveness of the peripheral Member States without involving direct financial transfers but allowing an intergovernmental co-operation and a trust-building process under the control of the European institutions. Marcello Messori is Professor of Economics at the Department of Political Science, LUISS Guido Carli (Rome) and Director of the LUISS School of European Political Economy (SEP).

Download or read book The Euro and Economic Stability written by Ewald Nowotny and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Euro and Economic Stability assesses the euro area's merits as a shelter and the merits of euro assets as a safe haven and reviews the case for rapid euro adoption from a post-crisis view. Policymakers and economists provide relevant lessons from euro area divergences for future euro area members and, more generally, from the financial crisis, while banking representatives discuss post-crisis business models of banks in the area. Last but not least, a theoretical introductory chapter fills the gap between mainstream macroeconomic modelling and real-world decision-making. The prime audience for this invaluable book will be economists and other experts in the fields of economic policy and European integration from central, commercial and investment banks, governments, international organizations, universities and research institutes. The book is also aimed at readers with a particular interest in the contributions' special regional focus: Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.

Download or read book Macroeconomic Imbalances written by European Commission. Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 14 February 2012, the European Commission presented its first Alert Mechanism Report (AMR), prepared in accordance with Article 3 of Regulation (EU) No 1176/2011 on the prevention and correction of macroeconomic imbalances. The AMR serves as an initial screening device, helping to identify Member States that warrant further in-depth analysis to determine whether imbalances exist or risk emerging. According to Article 5 of Regulation No. 1176/2011, these country-specific ?in-depth reviews? should examine the nature, origin and severity of macroeconomic developments in the Member State concerned which constitute, or could lead to, imbalances. On the basis of this analysis, the Commission will establish whether it considers that an imbalance exists and what type of policy follow-up it will recommend to the Council. For Slovenia, the AMR noted that two indicators in the scoreboard exceeded their thresholds in 2010 and suggested the need to assess the development and drivers of potential imbalances. The AMR explained that in the years before the crisis, Slovenia enjoyed strong growth and domestic demand conditions, coupled with some losses in price competitiveness and a gradual widening of the current account deficit. It identified signs that overheating occurred, particularly as regards private sector credit growth, construction value added and property prices. The Slovenian economy was hit hard by the global crisis and the AMR noted that this has brought some, perhaps temporary, adjustment in the external balance but this is still at an early stage. Against this background, Section 2 examines the external and internal dimensions of imbalances including developments in competitiveness, private sector indebtedness and in asset markets. This is followed by a closer look at the implications of indebtedness of non-financial corporations for the banking sector in Section 3. Section 4 presents possible policy considerations.

Download or read book The Euro written by Jesper Jespersen and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-11-21 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book takes a close look at macroeconomic imbalances within the Eurozone and explores the profound consequences the introduction of the European Monetary Union (EMU) has had on Euro area countries. Particular attention is given to balance of payments deficits and surpluses, and the profound difficulties of rebalancing the Euro area. Throughout the chapters, the author argues that the EMU has failed to support an optimal currency area with the correct institutional arrangements due to misunderstandings at a macroeconomic level. The author also sheds light on the stability pact and the resulting macroeconomic trap which has left a number of Eurozone countries with devastatingly high rates of unemployment. The book argues that by disregarding important macroeconomic imbalances, Euro-monetarists have derailed the entire Eurozone project to such an extent that it is at risk of falling apart. Key chapters discuss the establishment of the EMU from a Euro-realist perspective and the role of the European Central Bank in rebalancing financial markets. The concluding chapter looks ahead to the future of the Euro and proposes necessary institutional solutions to the macroeconomic problems it is currently facing. Scholars and students with an interest in the current economic disarray within the Eurozone will find this work thought-provoking and highly informative.

Download or read book Competitiveness in the European Economy written by Stefan Collignon and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-02-05 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book deals with the relationship between the competitiveness of countries in Europe and the analysis of macroeconomic imbalances. It focuses mainly on a European analysis, along with special studies of the German economy, which is rarely considered to be a cause for the current crisis. The book also compares Germany with Italy, providing a comparative perspective on structural reforms. The first part of this book analyses macroeconomic imbalances based on a new framework from the analysis of the flow of founds rather than balance of payments, and presents an alternative measure of unit labour cost comparisons to investigate the relationship between imbalances and competitiveness. The second part is dedicated to the analysis of the trade performance of Germany and Italy and the sustainability of the German model in the EMU. The third part describes the reform policies implemented by Germany and their effect on imbalances; this includes wage moderation, the labour market reforms and weak labour demand. The final part explores the regional inequalities within Germany and Italy, providing useful lessons regarding fiscal federalism and regional banking developments. In conclusion, a big part of the problems within the Euro Area are generated by the use of a wrong framework of analysis, where the EMU is considered as a fixed exchange rate regime and not a single country. This book provides an alternative view which holds at the core the relationship between sectors. It is stressed throughout the book that the German behaviour has contributed to the rise of imbalances between countries due to its growth model, not suitable for a big developed country in a currency union. This book also finds that stressing banking integration within countries helps to reduce regional inequalities, which has important implications for the management of Europe’s future banking union and macroeconomic imbalances.

Download or read book Analysis on the trade imbalances within the European Union written by Valerio Zoccante and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2015-07-01 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Master's Thesis from the year 2015 in the subject Economics - Macro-economics, general, grade: B, University of Southern Denmark, language: English, abstract: The aim of this work is to assess the factors that have been affecting the imbalances of trade within countries of the European Union. The analysis takes into consideration the elements that could affect the balance of trade, thus saving or investment. The variables that are included in the panel data framework are related to productivity, inflation, consumption, wage level, capital movements, demography of the population, economic growth, public and private debt levels. A panel data, that leaves out countries from East Europe, is created, and takes values that go from 2002 to 2013. The panel data shows that technology gaps and capital movements have been the main factors that affected the balance of trade of the peripheral countries. Peripheral countries did not invest enough in projects that could enhance the productivity, leading to a competitiveness loss that was not followed by a correction of the wage levels. Moreover, capital movements have been financing consumption surges in Greece and Portugal, whereas in Spain and Ireland those capitals have fueled credit booms and house bubbles. Therefore, those countries have been experiencing a worsening of their balance of trade, and investors have not been willed anymore to finance additional debt. Indeed, Members of the euroarea could not guarantee that the central bank could play the role of lender of last resort. Knowing that, in a currency union, the external position of a country represents its capacity of producing goods and services that could serve the debt in a troubled time, in the eyes of the investors the balances of trade of the peripheral eurozone countries became relevant during the European sovereign debt crisis. In the European framework, in order to decrease the imbalances of trade within the Members, fiscal transfers to peripheral countries could be beneficial for decreasing the cost that peripheral countries need to undergo during the adjustment period, whereas reforms that aim to enhance productivity in the peripheral countries and increase the mobility and the flexibility of the product and labor markets could be highly helpful. The following work highlights all those elements in a empirical framework, relating, however, the results to the literature that has been developed around the European case and the optimum currency area.

Download or read book Macroeconomic Imbalances written by European Commission. Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recoge: Revisión de la economía italiana con la intención de identificar presentes o potenciales desequilibrios y los posibles riesgos macroeconómicos que pueden implicar.

Download or read book Current Account Imbalances in the Southern Euro Area written by Piyaporn Sodsriwiboon and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2010-06-01 with total page 51 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The paper examines the causes, consequences, and potential cures of the large current account deficits in the Southern Euro Area (SEA). These were mostly driven by a decline in private saving rates. But it was the European Monetary Union and the Euro, which enabled these countries to maintain investment rates, and thus run larger current account deficits, by improving their access to the international pool of saving. The paper finds that the deficits in SEA in 2008 were larger than can be explained by fundamentals, though the situation varies substantially across countries. It also finds that although the global financial crisis has started to force some unwinding, the current account deficits are expected to remain high in the medium run, though again with substantial variation across countries. The paper argues these large external deficits pose risks to the economy and therefore matter, even in a currency union, and discusses some policy options to reduce them.

Download or read book Macroeconomic Imbalances written by European Commission. Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 14 February 2012, the European Commission presented its first Alert Mechanism Report (AMR) in accordance with the Regulation (EU) No. 1176/2011 on the prevention and correction of macroeconomic imbalances. The AMR serves as an initial screening device to identify Member States that warrant further in depth analysis into whether imbalances exist or risk emerging. According to Article 5 of Regulation No. 1176/2011, these country-specific ?in-depth reviews? should examine the nature, origin and severity of macroeconomic developments in the Member State concerned, which constitute, or could lead to, imbalances. On the basis of this analysis, the Commission concludes whether it considers that an imbalance exists or not, and if so whether it is excessive or not, and what type of follow-up it will recommend to the Council to address to the Member State. This in-depth review concludes that France is experiencing serious macroeconomic imbalances, which are not excessive but need to be addressed. In particular, certain macroeconomic developments in the areas of export performance and competitiveness deserve attention so as to reduce the risk of adverse effects on the functioning of the economy.

Download or read book The Euro Area Crisis in Constitutional Perspective written by Alicia Hinarejos Parga and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A critical analysis of the evolution of Economic and Monetary Union, this book examines the changes brought about by the financial crisis. Tackling the uncertain future of economic and fiscal integration, it focuses on the constitutional obstacles to integration and provides a compelling account of key dilemmas facing the European Union today.

Download or read book Redefining European Economic Governance written by Michele Chang and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-14 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The global financial crisis and sovereign debt crisis exposed the inadequacy of European economic governance. Despite the multitude of new mechanisms and institutions that have arisen over the last few years, many contend that economic governance remains inadequate and the EU must integrate even further to calm still-volatile markets. A tension exists between creating effective instruments that will not overstep the authority delegated to an EU that has integrated economically but not politically. Can the EU’s economic governance system satisfy the demands of markets and politics? Relevant issues include the ability of supranational institutions to dictate policy to national governments, the harmonization of economic policies and institutions across Europe, and a substantial increase in the transfer of funds across borders. Can monetary union continue without political union? How will the new institutions alter the distribution of power between EU institutions as well as between member states? This edited volume analyzes the major policy challenges and institutional mechanisms at the EU- and international levels to combat the global financial crisis and the EU’s sovereign debt crisis such as financial integration, fiscal cooperation, and the rising power of the ECB. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of European Integration.