http://www.VoxEU.org Popular articles on VoxEU.org en http://www.VoxEU.org/index.php?q=node/3421 Barry Eichengreen, Kevin H O’Rourke, 8 March 2010

This column updates the original Vox columns by Barry Eichengreen and Kevin O’Rourke comparing today’s global crisis to the Great Depression. The three previous columns have shattered all Vox readership records with over 450,000 views. This latest edition covers up to February 2010 showing that, while there is cause for optimism, there is no room for complacency.

Full Article: A tale of two depressions: What do the new data tell us? February 2010 update]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.VoxEU.org/index.php?q=node/3421 http://www.VoxEU.org/index.php?q=node/930 James J. Heckman, Paul A. LaFontaine, 13 February 2008

Official statistics for US high school graduation rates mask a growing educational divide. This column presents research showing that a record number of Americans are going to university – while an increasing number are dropping out of high school. This poses major social challenges for the United States.

Full Article: Educated in America: College graduates and high school dropouts]]> Wed, 13 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.VoxEU.org/index.php?q=node/930 http://www.VoxEU.org/index.php?q=node/729 Barry Eichengreen, 4 May 2010

Originally posted 17 November 2007, this Vox column is more relevant than ever arguing that adopting the euro is effectively irreversible. Leaving would require lengthy preparations, which, given the anticipated devaluation, would trigger the mother of all financial crises. National households and firms would shift deposits to other Eurozone banks producing a system-wide bank run. Investors, trying to escape, would create a bond-market crisis. Here is what the train wreck would look like.

Full Article: Eurozone breakup would trigger the mother of all financial crises]]> Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.VoxEU.org/index.php?q=node/729 http://www.VoxEU.org/index.php?q=node/5823 Paul Krugman, 18 November 2010

Debt is the crux of advanced economies’ current policy debates. Some argue for fiscal expansion to avoid recession and deflation. Others claim that you can’t solve a debt-created problem with more debt. This column explains the core logic of a new model by Eggertsson and Krugman in which debt shocks and policy reactions can be examined. Relying on heterogeneous agents, the model naturally produces the paradox of thrift but also finds new supply-side paradoxes, those of toil and flexibility. The model suggests that most economists have been misthinking the issues and that actual policy in the US and EU is misguided.

Full Article: Debt, deleveraging, and the liquidity trap: A new model]]> Thu, 18 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.VoxEU.org/index.php?q=node/5823 http://www.VoxEU.org/index.php?q=node/9016 Paul De Grauwe, Yuemei Ji, 21 February 2013

Eurozone policy seems driven by market sentiment. This column argues that fear and panic led to excessive, and possibly self-defeating, austerity in the south while failing to induce offsetting stimulus in the north. The resulting deflation bias produced the double-dip recession and perhaps more dire consequences. As it becomes obvious that austerity produces unnecessary suffering, millions may seek liberation from ‘euro shackles’.

Full Article: Panic-driven austerity in the Eurozone and its implications]]> Thu, 21 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://www.VoxEU.org/index.php?q=node/9016 http://www.VoxEU.org/index.php?q=node/9214 Paul De Grauwe, Yuemei Ji, 16 April 2013

A recent ECB household-wealth survey was interpreted by the media as evidence that poor Germans shouldn’t have to pay for southern Europe. This column takes a look at the numbers. Whilst it’s true that median German households are poor compared to their southern European counterparts, Germany itself is wealthy. Importantly, this wealth is very unequally distributed, but the issue of unequal distribution doesn’t feature much in the press. The debate in Germany creates an inaccurate perception among less wealthy Germans that transfers are unfair.

Full Article: Are Germans really poorer than Spaniards, Italians and Greeks?]]> Tue, 16 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://www.VoxEU.org/index.php?q=node/9214 http://www.VoxEU.org/index.php?q=node/2083 Stijn Claessens, M Ayhan Kose, Marco E Terrones, 7 October 2008

The house and equity price busts on top of a credit crunch make this an unprecedented crisis for the modern US economy; its real economy effects are thus difficult to assess. This column provides insights based on evidence from 122 recessions in 21 advanced nations since 1960. Findings suggest recessions in such circumstances are much costlier and slightly longer. But the outcome can be affected by policy, and it’s high time that policymakers act swiftly and decisively.

Full Article: Five decades of evidence on financial crisis and recession: How long? How deep?]]> Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.VoxEU.org/index.php?q=node/2083 http://www.VoxEU.org/index.php?q=node/261 Paul Krugman, 15 June 2007

It’s no longer safe to assert that trade’s impact on the income distribution in wealthy countries is fairly minor. There’s a good case that it is big, and getting bigger. I’m not endorsing protectionism, but free-traders need better answers to the anxieties of globalisation’s losers.

Full Article: Trade and inequality, revisited]]> Fri, 15 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://www.VoxEU.org/index.php?q=node/261 http://www.VoxEU.org/index.php?q=node/466 Stephen Cecchetti, 15 August 2007

A revised and updated version of the 13 August column on the basic how's and why's of what the Fed has been doing to calm financial markets.

Full Article: Subprime 'crisis': FAQs (revised & updated)]]> Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://www.VoxEU.org/index.php?q=node/466 http://www.VoxEU.org/index.php?q=node/779 Nathan Nunn, 8 December 2007

Slavery, according to historical accounts, played an important role in Africa’s underdevelopment. It fostered ethnic fractionalisation and undermined effective states. The largest numbers of slaves were taken from areas that were the most underdeveloped politically at the end of the 19th century and are the most ethnically fragmented today. Recent research suggests that without the slave trades, 72% of Africa’s income gap with the rest of the world would not exist today.

Full Article: Slave trade and African underdevelopment]]> Sat, 08 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://www.VoxEU.org/index.php?q=node/779