Archivi tag: covid-19

The Covid crisis is a serious threat for the environment
24 giugno 2020 - Alessandro Faini, Lorenzo Scalzitti and Luca Poggi

Among the disastrous consequences of the Coronavirus, many people joyfully praised the reduction in CO2 emissions as a turning point in the fight for the environment. If we look at the past, unfortunately, they could be getting things very wrong.

Air pollution is one of the major causes of death all over the world: every year, more than four and a half million people die for causes directly related to poor air quality [1]. However, policymakers around the globe did not succeed to tackle the issue effectively.

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A brief history of eurobonds – part III
28 aprile 2020 - Emanuele Ciamarone

‘Eurobonds’ are securities denominated in a foreign (respect to the country of issuing) currency. Then, why everybody is so concerned, especially now days, about something that exist since 1963 – when Autostrade issued in Italy for the first time 60.000 bonds denominated in U.S. Dollar? Well, the ‘Eurobond’ we are talking about is also called ‘stability bond’, a government’s bond, denominated in euro, issued jointly by eurozone states. Again, ‘what’s the point?’, we all know sovereign is issued also, if not primary, through traded securities. The point here is what is underlying the issues of common government securities, i.e. interest rates and collaterals.

In this series of articles, we will explain what Eurobonds are, why there are so many concerns around them and if they could be developed someday soon. In particular, we will go through European peculiarities and we will analyse all viable options to face extreme conditions as it is for COVID-19.

Someone tried to bribe Germany

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The ESM debate: economics and democracy
24 aprile 2020 - Davide Botticchio

Among the intense debate about the European Stability Mechanism, some economists claim that under the ESM conditionalities Italy would finally implement the structural reforms it needs to enhance its productivity and competitiveness. Although economists have asked these measures for years, politicians have been too populist and selfish to endanger their popularity and approve unpopular policies in the short-term, but that would strengthen Italian economy in the long-term. This view is widely shared inside economics departments, also among many students. Despite its diffusion, this claim is wrong because it implies that economics oversteps its boundaries by imposing political decisions in an authoritarian way. In this article I explain my view after having briefly discussed the features of ESM and its effectiveness (when I talk about ESM borrowings I do not mention the unconditional borrowings up to 2% of GDP approved during the last Eurogroup).

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Has social distancing been useful?
18 aprile 2020 - Alessandro Faini

Have you ever wondered about how much your life is worth? Economists have always tried to give monetary value to people’s lives. Nowadays, this issue gets even hotter, since policymakers have to take into account all costs and benefits deriving from shutting down the world economy: when will the benefits of saving lives by ‘flattening the curve’ of infected individuals be outweighed by its costs?

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A brief history of Eurobonds
5 aprile 2020 - Emanuele Ciamarone

‘Eurobonds’ are debt securities denominated in a currency foreign to the country of issuing. Then, why everybody is so concerned, especially nowadays, about something that exists since 1963, the year when Autostrade issued the world’s first 60.000 Eurobonds denominated in U.S. Dollar? The answer is simple: the same word is also used to define another concept. The ‘Eurobond’ we are talking about is also called ‘stability bond’, a government bond, denominated in euro, issued jointly by the eurozone states. How is it different from the usual sovereign debt?
The point here is what is underlying the issues of common government securities, i.e. interest rates and collaterals.

In this series of articles, we will explain what Eurobonds are, why there are so many concerns around them and if they could be developed someday soon. In particular, we will go through European peculiarities and analyse all viable options to face extreme circumstances as it is for COVID-19.

Why everybody messed up with debt

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Will COVID-19 trigger a reduction in European inequalities?
13 marzo 2020 - Lorenzo Scalzitti

On March 12, the ECB held a press conference, in which Christine Lagarde announced and commented on the new measures to counter the economic downturn triggered by the spread of the virus. Below, we shortly review and explain these measures, compare the policies of Lagarde and Draghi, the previous ECB president, and give some final considerations on [Read More]