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IMF should double funds to $2T, offer debt moratorium for COVID-19 crisis response

  “COVID19: Increase in IMF resources and debt moratorium urgently needed” By Cristoph Trebesch and Rolf J. Langhammer, courtesy of IfW Kiel   Never in its 75-year history has the IMF been more important for global financial and economic stability than now in the corona pandemic. Already 90 countries have applied for credit assistance in […]

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With radical change, Argentina can turn this crisis to its advantage

  “Taking Advantage of the Crisis: Three Steps for the Revolution Argentina Needs” By Federico Fernández, courtesy of Fundacion BASES   Let’s be clear, the Argentine economy was already tumbling before we even suspected that a delicious bat soup would quarantine a third of Humanity.    But there is also no doubt that the economic situation as […]

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Will Paraguay Follow Argentina’s Economic Decline?

  By Marcelo Duclos, courtesy of Panampost   Although there was a moment in history when there was talk of the “Argentine miracle” (after the Constitution of Juan Bautista Alberdi) or the “German miracle,” after World War II (in one part, of course), I think we should mention another contemporary miracle: the Paraguayan one.   It […]

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Europeans take the Euro for granted

  By Joris Melman and Giuseppe Porcaro, courtesy of the Bruegel Institute   How can we understand citizens’ attitudes towards the euro and its politics?   A previous research project studied narratives of the euro crisis and explored the blame game that marked these years. The study found part of the answer to why it has been so hard […]

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Global wealth inequality fell over last two decades

“Global wealth inequality has declined since 2000” Jørgen Sloth and Thomas Due Bostrup, courtesy of CEPOS   Summary and commentary   This analysis is about the evolution of global inequality. Among other things, it shows that wealth inequality has decreased over the past 20 years. Thus, the richest 10 per cent share of global wealth has fallen […]

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Washington Beyond the Headlines: The PRO Act Is a Con

    By Andy Blom, TES Washington Editor   What a week…Impeachment…State of the Union (watch it here)…Iowa! Well, no matter how crazy the politicians make us, free market policy people keep working on issues and ideas that affect America, and the world.  Read on for this week’s news…   The PRO Act is a […]

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Bitte nicht! Germany still opposes banking union

  “Germany Remains Firmly Opposed to Banking Union” By Gordon Kerr, Cavin O’Driscoll and Enrico Colombatto, courtesy of IREF   In November, Germany’s Finance Minister Olaf Scholz wrote an article in the Financial Times claiming that he had devised a common European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS)[1] that could be acceptable to both sides of the hitherto […]

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Breaking the “black zero”: Germany has room to spend more

  “How much space for fiscal expansion? Germany falls victim to ‘output gap nonsense’” By Philipp Heimberger, courtesy of WIIW   The German economy is in a downturn. The growth rate is currently among the lowest in the euro area, and numerous economic research institutes have revised their forecasts downwards. German industry is already in recession. In […]

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Don’t let regulations cancel advantages of bank integration

  “Crisis management for euro-area banks in central Europe” By Alexander Lehmann, courtesy of Bruegel Institute   The deep involvement of a number of euro-area banking groups in central and southeastern Europe has benefited the host countries and has strengthened the resilience of those banking groups. But this integration has become less close because of […]

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UK can’t afford to live in fiscal fantasy land

  “Budget or no budget, with borrowing now on the rise again fiscal realities can’t just be wished away” By Carl Emmerson, Paul Johnson and Isabel Stockton, courtesy of IFS   Today was the intended date of Sajid Javid’s first Budget as Chancellor. The failure to implement a Brexit deal, and the general election campaign, […]