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External Publication

The ECB’s OMT Programme and German Constitutional Concerns

How should the ECB’s programme be evaluated? Is the ECB acting beyond its mandate? Are the potential fiscal consequences of the OMT programme a relevant dimension for the constitutionality of the OMT programme? Or is the OMT programme without fiscal consequences?

By: Date: August 28, 2013 Topic: Macroeconomic policy

In June 2013, the German constitutional court (Karlsruhe) debated the legality of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the European Central Bank (ECB)’s Outright Monetary Transaction (OMT) programme. After the court had preliminarily approved the ESM in September of last year, Karlsruhe is now evaluating the scope and boundaries of the ECB’s monetary policy mandate and the OMT programme and its consequences on the budget right of the Bundestag. While it is very unlikely, the court,in theory, could force the German government to bring the ECB to the European Court of Justice or, even more dramatically, it could request Germany to leave the eurozone as the former constitutional court judge, Udo di Fabio argued in a recent study.

So how should the ECB’s programme be evaluated? Is the ECB acting beyond its mandate? Are the potential fiscal consequences of the OMT programme a relevant dimension for the constitutionality of the OMT programme? Or is the OMT programme without fiscal consequences?

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Upcoming Event

May
11
14:00

How are crises changing central bank doctrines?

How is monetary policy evolving in the face of recent crises? With central banks taking on new roles, how accountable are they to democratic institutions?

Speakers: Maria Demertzis, Benoît Coeuré, Pervenche Béres, Hans-Helmut Kotz and Athanasios Orphanides Topic: Macroeconomic policy Location: Bruegel, Rue de la Charité 33, 1210 Brussels
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Upcoming Event

May
12
12:30

Shifting taxes in order to achieve green goals

How could shifting the tax burden from labour to pollution and resources help the EU reach its climate goals?

Speakers: Niclas Poitiers and Femke Groothuis Topic: Green economy, Macroeconomic policy Location: Bruegel, Rue de la Charité 33, 1210 Brussels
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External Publication

What drives implementation of the European Union’s policy recommendations to its member countries?

Article published in the Journal of Economic Policy Reform.

By: Konstantinos Efstathiou and Guntram B. Wolff Topic: Macroeconomic policy Date: April 13, 2022
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Working Paper

Measuring the intangible economy to address policy challenges

The purpose of the first work package of the MICROPROD project was to improve the firm-level data infrastructure, expand the measurement of intangible assets and enable cross-country analyses of these productivity trends.

By: Marie Le Mouel Topic: Macroeconomic policy Date: April 11, 2022
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Upcoming Event

May
25
14:30

How can we support and restructure firms hit by the COVID-19 crisis?

What are the vulnerabilities and risks in the enterprise sector and how prepared are countries to handle a large-scale restructuring of businesses?

Speakers: Ceyla Pazarbasioglu and Guntram B. Wolff Topic: Macroeconomic policy
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Past Event

Past Event

Macroeconomic and financial stability in changing times: conversation with Andrew Bailey

Guntram Wolff will be joined in conversation by Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England.

Speakers: Andrew Bailey and Guntram B. Wolff Topic: Macroeconomic policy Date: March 28, 2022
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Opinion

European governance

How to reconcile increased green public investment needs with fiscal consolidation

The EU’s ambitious emissions reduction targets will require a major increase in green investments. This column considers options for increasing public green investment when major consolidations are needed after the fiscal support provided during the pandemic. The authors make the case for a green golden rule allowing green investment to be funded by deficits that would not count in the fiscal rules. Concerns about ‘greenwashing’ could be addressed through a narrow definition of green investments and strong institutional scrutiny, while countries with debt sustainability concerns could initially rely only on NGEU for their green investment.

By: Zsolt Darvas and Guntram B. Wolff Topic: European governance, Green economy, Macroeconomic policy Date: March 8, 2022
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Opinion

The week inflation became entrenched

The events that have unfolded since 24 February have solved one dispute: inflation is no longer temporary.

By: Maria Demertzis Topic: Macroeconomic policy Date: March 8, 2022
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Podcast

Podcast

War in Ukraine: Macroeconomic implications for the EU

A special episode of the Sound of Economics Live where we analyse the macroeconomic implications of the war in Ukraine.

By: The Sound of Economics Topic: Macroeconomic policy Date: March 2, 2022
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Past Event

Past Event

War in Ukraine: Macroeconomic implications for the EU

A special episode of the Sound of Economics Live where we analyse the macroeconomic implications of the war in Ukraine.

Speakers: Luis Garicano, Jean Pisani-Ferry and Guntram B. Wolff Topic: Macroeconomic policy Location: Bruegel, Rue de la Charité 33, 1210 Brussels Date: March 2, 2022
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Opinion

The weakness of average inflation targeting

Introducing average over time without defining what this means is counterproductive and current levels of inflation in the US will sooner or later expose this weakness in the Fed’s new strategy.

By: Maria Demertzis Topic: Macroeconomic policy Date: February 22, 2022
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Blog Post

European governance

How has growth changed what countries get from the European recovery fund?

Adjustments to growth forecasts mean some countries will get 10% more than expected and others 20% less in grants from the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility. But the benefits of more quickly rising growth rates dwarf foregone recovery funds.

By: Zsolt Darvas Topic: European governance, Macroeconomic policy Date: February 17, 2022
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