“The financial sector has grown too big and volatile and something must be done. A tax on financial transaction is something, therefore a tax on financial transaction must be done.” If you can spot the logical error in that line of reasoning you just outsmarted many European policymakers. Eleven EU countries – including France, Germany, […]
Everything the IMF Wanted to Know About Financial Regulation and Wasn’t Afraid to Ask
Who would not want a financial system …
Economics should not be mechanistic
We shouldn’t be mechanistic, but sometimes we become a bit like that. Sometimes we talk about “envy” that economists feel toward physics, a science without shocks, without exceptions. We often wish economics were like that. Or at least this is what the public, politicians and the media want from us. What will happen, they ask […]
The euro under construction
The crisis in the euro area is long and painful, and progress towards its resolution is not proceeding in a linear way. The problem by now has been well-diagnosed. The euro was put in place without the proper institutions to support it. A monetary union needs a fiscal union pillar, a financial stability pillar and […]
The Economic Consequences of Abenomics: Currency Wars Ahead?
Last week Prof. Núria Mas described Abenomics: the economic …
