Suchergebnisse

The question of what makes some cities more successful than others has become an increasingly important policy issue. This topical book is the first to explore facets of competitiveness in a systematic way that combines theory, evidence and policy implications. Bringing together leading experts on urban economic performance, it provides a new look at the issue of urban competitiveness.

The deepening economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic has elicited extensive policy responses, but also raises daunting challenges for global governance. This policy-oriented article explores the new challenges for multilateralism, assesses efforts to coordinate these policy responses, and considers likely outcomes.

After all the debunking it has had, including the admission from prominent 'Leave' supporters that it was phoney, the continuing hold on British public debate of the claim of £350 million per week for the NHS is an abiding mystery. Iain Begg explains that there is no such thing as a Brexit dividend.

EU Member States, particularly in the Euro Area, have been pushed to adopt more extensive and intrusive fiscal rules, but what is the evidence that the rules are succeeding? The EU level Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) has been – and remains – the most visible rule-book, but it has been complemented by a profusion of national rules and by new provisions on other sources of macroeconomic imbalance. Much of the analysis of rules has concentrated on their technical merits, but tends to neglect the political economy of compliance. This paper examines the latter, looking at compliance with fiscal rules at EU and Member State levels and at the rules-based mechanisms for curbing other macroeconomic imbalances. It concludes that politically driven implementation and enforcement shortcomings have been given too little attention, putting at risk the integrity and effectiveness of the rules.

The UK's decision to leave the European Union will have a wide-ranging effect on the British economy, but the scale and sequencing of the likely effects are hard to gauge. The uncertainties surrounding how a country separates itself from a regional economic bloc have posed challenges to the economics profession about how best to analyse the many consequences. The paper discusses the main lines of relevant economic argumentation, and reviews the evidence from studies of the likely effects of "Brexit". It then considers how the UK's economic linkages with the EU might evolve and examines some of the ensuing political economy challenges. The concluding section ponders the role of economists in so contentious a political development.

La mise en œuvre de l'investissement social suppose une analyse économique rigoureuse. Elle doit permettre de montrer en quoi une dépense de protection sociale à un moment donné ne se limite pas à une consommation, c'est-à-dire à un transfert monétaire simple que les physiciens qualifieraient de « dissipatif », car il n'aurait qu'un effet à court terme. La notion d'investissement suppose au contraire que les sommes mises en jeu produisent un effet, qui, dans le cas de la protection sociale, ne peut se mesurer, le plus souvent qu'à moyen ou long terme. Le calcul de la rentabilité de l'investissement social et la manière de le mettre en œuvre font l'objet de débats méthodologiques et normatifs intenses, pour calculer sa rentabilité, mais aussi pour évaluer son caractère redistributif vis-à-vis de ses bénéficiaires et pour optimiser la gestion du risque entre l'État, les individus et les investisseurs privés.

The European Union budget is small and fulfils only a limited range of functions, yet it provokes regular disputes among the Member States and institutions of the Union. This paper describes the structure of the budget and shows that standard theories, such as fiscal federalism, are not well-suited to analysing how the EU budget operates or the political economy behind it. The paper then looks at how much the UK contributes towards the EU budget and explains why some of the claims made about it in the public discourse are inaccurate.

The extensive economic governance reforms in the euro area since 2010 have put in place a system (EMU 2) that is intended to be more intrusive, prescriptive and enforceable in constraining Member State economic policies. It can be characterized as a recasting of the stability-orientated framework which is intended to correct the acknowledged shortcomings of the original set-up (EMU 1), but does not fundamentally alter the policy model. Rather its ambition is to be more effective, notably in implementation. This article revisits the economic arguments for monetary integration and considers whether the core features of the new model and the economic logic that underpins them will improve the governance of EMU in assuring macroeconomic stability. It draws attention to remaining gaps in the governance system and discusses possible further reforms.