Category Archives: Europe

The Consequences of Brexit for UK Trade and Living Standards

The economic consequences of leaving the EU are at the heart of the Brexit debate. This column studies how changes in trade and fiscal transfers to the EU following Brexit would affect living standards in the UK. Across a range of scenarios, Brexit leads to lower income per capita, but the magnitude of the loss depends on what trade policies the UK adopts post-Brexit. To minimise the economic costs of Brexit, the UK would have to remain closely integrated into the Single Market.

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Leaked Memo Reveals IMF (Still) Wants Out of Greece Bailout and Plots to Pressure Germany to Act

A new leak shows the IMF as the least bad actor of the Troika, which given its record as a neoliberal fist in third world countries, speaks volumes about European politics.

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Silvia Merler: ECB TLTRO 2.0 – Lending at Negative Rates

On Thursday, the ECB surprised observers by announcing a new series of four targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO II) to be started in June 2016. The incentive structure of the programme has changed: on one hand, this TLTRO II could be the first case of lending at negative rates; on the other hand, the link with lending to the real economy might have been weakened.

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HSBC’s Money Laundering Nightmare (2): Mossack Fonseca, a Year in Words and Pictures, March 2015-March 2016

Mossack Fonseca and its trail of street protests: they are in it up to their thighs, and HSBC’s Stuart Gulliver has “no idea”.

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