The Road to Post-Pandemic Recovery

Thus far, three recovery programs have been proposed in response to the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The first recovery program was …

Can ‘profiteering’ ever be justified?

Given that even ‘profit’ now seems to be dirty word, it is no surprise that being accused of ‘profiteering’ during a crisis is about …

Could ‘Lombardy Bonds’ be the answer to the Eurozone debt puzzle?

At the last Eurogroup meeting, Eurozone finance ministers agreed to set up a ‘Recovery Fund’ to help trigger an economic rebound once the lockdowns …

The harmful effects of negative interest rates

Over the past month, six eurozone banks have dropped below the European Central Bank’s (ECB) capital requirements. As a result, they have been told …

The Turkish Lira Crisis: Why it threatens the EU and how it can be averted

In the last decade, Turkey’s economy has been experiencing high growth rates, partially due to a highly expansive monetary policy. However, in the process, …

Lithuania reforms its tax and pension system

In late June, the Lithuanian Parliament adopted a law that consolidated the employer and employee base for social security contributions and significantly cut the …

Why the EU needs the City too

The UK might appear to have the most to lose from Brexit if City firms find it harder to sell financial services into the …

Offshore bet

The popular account of offshore financial centres as hotbeds of tax evasion is an outdated caricature that bears little resemblance to how OFCs operate. …

Growing protectionism after the financial crisis

The weak global GDP growth since the financial crisis in 2007-2009 has coincided with unusually weak growth in global trade.
The average global tariff …

A UK-EU financial deal is approaching

One year after the triggering of Article 50 an acceptable deal on financial services between the UK and the EU now looks likely. In …

Socially Useless? The Crucial Contribution of Finance to Economic Life

Financial firms serve many useful functions which individuals and households could scarcely undertake on their own. These functions include maturity transformation, matching lenders and …

Credit and debit card charges banned – its effect on small businesses

New legislation introduced in January bans firms from charging fees for credit or debit card payments. The legislation aims to protect consumers who have …

Financial Stability Without Central Banks

A ‘free’ banking system without a central bank provides incentives for banks to act with restraint. Their lending policies are, in effect, tied to …

London’s Global Reach and the Half a Trillion Dollars Equity Prize

As the world’s leading international financial centre, London faces fascinating opportunities as well as some significant challenges in coming years. This is as a …

How to develop secondary markets for non-performing loans?

The ECB seeks to increase trading in non-performing loans by reducing the pricing gap between prospective investors and banks. For this to happen, there …

Statutory regulation vs private regulation

The EU’s second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) came into force earlier this month. According to the European Securities and Markets Authority …

How the municipal VAT exemptions promote tax increases in the EU

As a general rule, local governments are exempt from VAT in the EU. Thus, VAT is not payable on the tax-financed consumption of municipalities …

Financial technology and regulation

Recent years have seen a reduced supply of capital to domestic businesses by banks due to increased capital requirements and compliance costs.
Market finance …

What finance can teach us about Catalan independence

The turmoil in Catalonia appears finally to be subsiding thanks to the central government’s intervention this weekend to restore constitutional order. The decision to …

The Future of EU Finances

This Position Paper is a response to the Reflection Paper on the Future of EU Finances by the European Commission. The goal of this …

A Joint Open Letter on the Future of EU Finance

The EU budget has been a result of political negotiations and trade-offs between Member States rather than a well-grounded financing of mutually agreed pan-European …

Europe’s non-performing loans: an Italian Problem

Within the European Union, the problem of non-performing loans (NPLs) is predominantly an Italian issue. Whilst Italian authorities have successfully passed a few different …

Basel regulations: a danger for European banks

The ongoing Basel IV discussions seek to impose additional capital requirement on banks, a move that would disproportionately affect those in Europe.
Whilst the …

Employment in privatised utilities

On 15 June 2017, the Directorate General for Internal Policies published a report which maps the recent history of privatisation and examines the risk …

£50bn is too steep for a Brexit divorce bill

The Sunday Times has claimed that the Prime Minister is ready to approve a financial settlement of ‘up to £50bn’ when the UK leaves …

The EU Capital Markets Union: will progress finally accelerate?

The Capital Markets Union (CMU) was launched in 2014 by the European Commission to lower barriers to cross-border investment in the EU and to …

The European battle for London’s euro clearing market

London’s overwhelming dominance over the euro clearing market yields significant importance towards the UK’s economic performance and standing. The lucrative business is a major …

The big European Deposit Insurance Scheme dilemma

The European sovereign debt crisis that followed the 2008 financial crisis has pushed Europe to radically reform its financial rules. While some far-reaching reforms …

Relocation or consolidation? Banks in Europe after Brexit

The fear that the UK-based financial industry will not be able to fully conduct all its current post-Brexit pan-European operations has prompted several London-based …

Financial regulation has gone too far and European banks are at risk

Since the last financial crisis, the EU has gradually increased its financial regulation. This has now gone too far and it contributes to the …

CCCTB round 2: an exercise in unification or polarisation?

Originally suggested and then subsequently shelved in 2011, the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base is a policy designed to create a unified set of …

Spanish Tax Freedom Day

In 2017, the average Spaniard will have worked 178 days in order to fulfill their tax obligations. In other words, Tax Freedom Day, calculated …

An ambitious EU industrial policy will not revive the European industry

The contribution of industry to the EU’s economy has been on a decline for more than 20 years. In 1991, manufacturing was responsible for …

Early Elections in Italy? An Issue of democracy, corruption, and banks

With the potential for an early election by the end of the year, Italy must face the realities of its democratic system: cronyism and …

Book review: ‘The euro: how a common currency threatens the future of Europe’ by Joseph E. Stiglitz

Since the onset of the euro zone crisis, two schools of thought have emerged, offering different diagnoses of the single-currency area’s woes. The first …

Superindex

According to the latest IBL Super Index, the degree of internal divergence within Eurozone countries keeps increasing. This means that the gap between Eurozone …

Is the EU growing or getting fat?

By maintaining the imbalances of the decade of excess we are missing the opportunity to prepare for the future. The economic sentiment index in the Eurozone …

The 2017 Spanish General State Budget

Last week, EPICENTER’s Spanish partner, CIVISMO, published a report about the Spanish General State Budget.
 
The 2017 General State Budget, presented on April …

Money market funds in the EU – a misguided and contradictory regulation

After more than three years of discussion and contention, the European Parliament and Council agreed on a new set of regulations regarding Money Market …

Solvency II and the CMU: unlocking contractual savings’ investment

Even though the free movement of capital has been a legislative reality in the European Union since the Treaty of Rome, the markets for …

A few points on Europe’s desperate need for a capital markets Union

Since the European Commission’s Action Plan on Building a Capital Markets Union in 2015, strengthening and integrating capital markets across the Union has been …

The taxation of high-income earners: An international comparison

The effective marginal tax rate is the total tax on the last euro earned, taking into account income tax as well as social contributions …

Inflation and the ECB: a political problem

Mario Draghi´s latest comments expressing his support for continuing the European Central Bank´s Quantitative Easing drew much controversy from northern Eurozone countries, especially Germany, …

Greece – the conundrum of currency and institutions

Part 2 of our Greek economy series. For Part 1, please click here.
 
The Institutional Problem Revealed through Global Indices
 
One could arguably …

Greece – the conundrum of currency and institutions

(Part 1)
 
It appears to many that Greece is a lost cause and a country that can maybe only survive outside the euro. …

Rethinking financial regulation

Since Donald Trump’s election, US bank stocks have risen around 24 percent. Moreover, UK bank stocks have reached 6-month highs in January, albeit tempered …

Behavioural economics – a critique of its policy conclusions

Behavioural economics is not a challenge to neo-classical ways of thinking. It sits firmly within the neo-classical framework. It simply gives us a new …

Personal Pensions in the European Union

The development of personal pensions at the national and cross-border levels is hindered by high compulsory payments to public pension funds, restrictions on the …

European Superindex

It has been one year and a half since Professor Nicola Rossi and I started the Superindex at Istituto Bruno Leoni.
 
The Superindex …

Living on credit

November 30 marks Credit Day across the European Union. Credit Day is the day when member states’ central administrations exhaust their annual tax revenues …

The changing narrative of the euro crisis

Diego Zuluaga // 05.10.2016
When the eurozone debt crisis broke out in late 2009, there was considerable agreement among policymakers that budgetary prudence and …

Radical, but not equal: assessing corporate tax reforms

27 July 2016
A tax on turnover would tax profitable and loss-making firms equally, potentially posing an insurmountable hurdle to struggling firms, and eliminating …

The importance of being credible: Eurozone rules and Italian banks

13 July 2016
 
The conventional account of the Eurozone crisis is one of reckless bankers lending to households and governments far beyond their ability …

Corporation tax reform: theory, evidence and avoidance

06 July 2016
There are efforts at national, EU and international levels to put forward significant reforms to the corporate tax system. The 20th century …

Pricking the balloon on Eurozone deflation

18 May 2016
As growth rates in the Eurozone gather steam, policymakers’ concerns are increasingly shifting to low inflation. According to Eurostat, consumer prices …

Basel, RWA and rules of thumb in risk management

Diego Zuluaga // 28.04.2016
The Institute for International Finance has just released an interesting briefing paper on the trends in risk-weighted assets (RWA) among …

The OECD’s crusade for more financial regulation is misguided

Diego Zuluaga // 30.03.2016
A blog post by the OECD linking the rise of finance to lower economic growth and higher inequality made the …

The balance sheet of French public administrations is in the red by 56% of GDP

Cécile Philippe // 29.02.2016
Some people see no need to worry about public debt because it matches the amounts invested to prepare for the …

The bank-sovereign nexus is alive and well

Diego Zuluaga // 16.02.2016
One of the main objectives of post-crisis financial regulation has been the severing of the nexus between large banks and …

German judges slam EC proposals to reform ISDS

Diego Zuluaga // 05.02.2016
The German Association of Judges has rejected the European Commission’s proposals for a separate public court to handle investment disputes. …

The Eurozone’s deposit insurance scheme creates more problems than it solves

Diego Zuluaga // 25.11.2015
The European Commission has released its plan for an EU-wide deposit insurance scheme that will, at first, back up and …

Portugal at the crossroads

André Azevedo Alves // 18.11.2015
The Portuguese parliamentary election that took place on 4th October delivered a result that very few would have anticipated …

Can we have integration without centralisation?

Diego Zuluaga // 13.11.2015
In a new publication, my colleague Philip Booth at the Institute of Economic Affairs makes a resolute case for Britain …

Deregulation and reforms are the missing ingredient in the recovery

Diego Zuluaga // 11.11.2015
Writing in the Financial Times (“In the long shadow of the Great Recession,” 10 November), Martin Wolf meditates on the …

Shining a light on public overspending in Europe

Diego Zuluaga // 09.11.2015
On Monday, our French partner Institut Economique Molinari released its latest study, shedding late on out-of-control public expenditures across the …

French government will end year by going deeper in debt

Cécile Philippe and Nicolas Marques, November 2015
According to Eurostat data, the French government will have used up all of its resources by November …

The key measure in the Greek crisis is political capital

Michael Iakovidis // 04.11.2015
The Greek crisis has cost taxpayers across Europe hundreds of billions of euros, compounded a huge recession which has plunged …

Company finance in the EU, and the Capital Markets Union

 
7 April 2015
 
Post-crisis financial regulation of banks and new regulations being developed for insurance companies have likely contributed to the dearth …

Investor-State Dispute Settlement: Myths and Reality

20 November 2014
 
With cross-border trade volumes reaching new heights every year, and with governments still prone to arbitrary action, there is a …

Towards a robust financial sector – how should tax and regulation evolve?

Cristina Berechet, October 2014
 
The economic and financial crisis has affected the ability of the EU financial sector to channel funds towards the …

Facts and analysis: The small loans market and regulation in Lithuania

 
Lithuanian Free Market Institute, May 2014
 
The small loans market (quick credit, pay-day loans) often gets a lot of criticism in the …

Facts and analysis: An integrated European market for card, internet and mobile payments

 
Lithuanian Free Market Institute, September 2013
 
Regulation, specifically Interchange Fee caps on credit and debit cards, would be especially harmful to consumers …

Financial regulation: The need for a revolution

 
Philip Booth, et al., IEA, November 2012
 
We need an entirely new approach to regulation across the financial sector which is based …

Central banking, monetary stability and financial stability

 
Geoffrey Wood, et al., IEA, September 2009
 
How can future economic crises be avoided? A special issue of IEA journal Economic Affairs …