Europe Economics Weekly Armageddon postponed The European Central Bank’s promises helped to prevent Armageddon in the euro-zone in 2012. But it will have to put its money where its mouth is in 2013 and the risk of disappointment is high... 24th December 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Slow progress towards banking union The European Council finally managed to reach some important compromises last week, allowing progress to be made towards setting up an EU-wide bank supervisor in the form of the ECB. But, presumably... 17th December 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly The ECB too gloomy? Not likely. Suggestions that last week’s downgrades to the ECB’s economic projections have left it too gloomy look wide of the mark. Against a background of weak global activity, continued austerity and high and... 10th December 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Greek bail-out deal won't bring lasting calm Last week’s bail-out agreement has prompted some commentators to suggest that Greece’s future in the euro-zone should now be secure until at least next autumn. But we are not convinced. Indeed, given... 3rd December 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Another Greek sticking plaster Euro-zone finance ministers are inching ever closer to a deal on the bail-out which will satisfy their own debt sustainability criteria and in the near term at least avoid a politically troublesome... 26th November 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Core's resilience unlikely to last Last week’s euro-zone economic data brought some reasons for hope. While GDP in the region as a whole fell for the second quarter running in Q3, both Germany and France posted modest expansions... 19th November 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Greek stay of execution won’t lift the economic gloom We’re throwing in the towel on a Greek euro exit in 2012. But that’s a matter of timing, not a change in our fundamental position on Greece or on the broader debt crisis. We still envisage a limited... 12th November 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Firms and households still unwilling to borrow October’s ECB Bank Lending Survey revealed that banks tightened their lending criteria further despite easing strains related to the sovereign debt crisis. And weak demand for loans was a more... 5th November 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Is the core softening its stance? Developments over the past week or so suggest that the core euro-zone governments’ attitudes towards the peripheral economies currently receiving bail-outs may be mellowing. But while this reduces the... 29th October 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Can Spain really have its cake and eat it? Speculation built last week that Spain is finally about to ask for a bail-out and hence trigger the European Central Bank’s new bond-buying programme, giving Spanish bond yields another nudge... 22nd October 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly The euro-zone’s multiplying woes The IMF’s analysis suggesting that “fiscal multipliers” are rather bigger than many governments have been assuming does not tell us much that we did not already know about the euro-zone. It’s pretty... 15th October 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Is the Greek bail-out starting to crumble? Successful bond auctions by the Spanish and Portuguese Governments last week, coupled with signs that other markets may also be starting to function more normally, provided further glimmers of hope... 8th October 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Small steps forward don't lift the uncertainty Developments in the euro-zone last week brought the implementation of more decisive policy action to tackle the region’s debt crisis an important step closer. Most notably, the Spanish budget included... 1st October 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Spain's waiting game is a risky one So far at least, the Spanish Government’s decision to delay seeking a bail-out does not seem to have backfired. After all, Spanish government bond yields remain low by recent standards. But the... 24th September 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Further glimmers of hope Last week’s developments bolstered hopes that the euro-zone has finally reached a “turning point”. Indeed, given the further falls in peripheral government bond yields, some optimists even questioned... 17th September 2012 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Has the game really changed? While the very positive response to the ECB’s plans to undertake “Outright Monetary Transactions” (OMTs) is not entirely without foundation, it at least looks over the top. On close inspection, the... 7th September 2012 · 1 min read
