Not all financial regulation is global
by Nicolas Véron on 31 August 2010
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Category: POLICY BRIEFS
Topics: Financial markets and regulation
Financial regulation at global level has been high on the G20 agenda. However, financial multipolarity, with the rise of emerging economies, and its impact on decision-making at global level has made global convergence difficult. In this policy brief, the authors, Bruegel Senior Fellow Nicolas Véron and Stéphane Rottier, National Bank of Belgium, explain why now is the time to focus on building stronger global public institutions, ensuring globally consistent financial information, creating globally integrated capital-markets infrastructure and addressing competitive distortions among global capital-market intermediaries to set the foundation for global harmonisation of all aspects of financial regulation.
Europe's missing yollies
by Reinhilde Veugelers on 25 August 2010
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Category: POLICY BRIEFS
Topics: Research, innovation and growth
In this Policy Brief, Bruegel Senior Fellow Reinhilde Veugelers and Michele Cincera, Professor at ULB, draw our attention to young leading innovators ('yollies'). They explain why the European Union's business research and development deficit, relative to the United States, can be attributed to the EU having fewer yollies, especially those that are less R&D intensive. This paper raises important and timely questions about the EU's innovation policy. The authors argue why policy makers should pay attention to the heterogeneity across young sectors and design sector-specific measures to boost innovation and growth in the EU.
The global operations of European firms
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Category: POLICY BRIEFS
Topics: European and global governance, Research, innovation and growth, Trade, investment and competitiveness
This Policy Brief is part of the EU-EFIGE (European Firms in a Global Economy) project which aims to address policy questions on the casual link between firm characteristics and internationalisation. Authored by Giorgio Barba Navaretti, University of Milan; Matteo Bugamelli, Bank of Italy; Gianmarco Ottaviano, Bruegel Senior Fellow; and Fabiano Schivardi, University of Cagliari, this paper is based on a comprehensive survey of 15,000 firms across seven EU countries. The findings of this paper set the foundation for deeper investigation into key policy challenges affecting European firms on the global stage.
Power to the people of Europe
by Georg Zachmann on 07 June 2010
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Category: POLICY BRIEFS
Topics: Climate change and energy, Competition and single market, Research, innovation and growth
Bruegel Research Fellow Georg Zachmann explains the challenges that arise in creating an efficient single electricity market in Europe. This Policy Brief proposes that the European Commission continues to push for binding European network planning based on technical and cost-benefit analyses, while member states should move away from the artificial setting of single national prices.
The Blue Bond Proposal
by , Jakob von Weizsäcker on 06 May 2010
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Category: POLICY BRIEFS
Topics: Budgetary and monetary policies, Financial markets and regulation, European and global governance
Soaring debt levels and the crisis in Greece has sharpened the focus on fiscal sustainability among eurozone members. The European Union has to tackle high debt levels in vulnerable states which are compounded by a hike in risk premiums on government bonds leading to a debt trap, while designing ways to efficiently finance debt. Furthermore, European solidarity with weaker states should not undermine incentives for individual members to pursue fiscally sustainable policies. This Policy Brief proposes a Blue Bond to resolve these challenges. The authors, Bruegel Research Fellow Jakob von Weizsäcker and Jacques Delpla
Conseil d’Analyse Économique, Paris, explain the economics behind their proposal, its institutional underpinnings and the implication of it on various participating countries.