IntereconomicsPub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.2478/ie-2023-0008
Martin Larch, Jānis Malzubris, Stefano Santacroce
{"title":"Numerical Compliance with EU Fiscal Rules: Facts and Figures from a New Database","authors":"Martin Larch, Jānis Malzubris, Stefano Santacroce","doi":"10.2478/ie-2023-0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/ie-2023-0008","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract EU fiscal rules are meant to keep public finances on a sustainable path. This paper presents a new database that tracks numerical compliance with the four main rules of the Stability and Growth Pact starting in 1998. Our assessment of numerical compliance abstracts from the many exceptions and elements of discretion allowed by the letter and the spirit of EU law. It focuses on the main course of action implied by the rules. Overall, our database points to a very mixed compliance record. On average – across countries, years and rules – budgetary policies of the EU member states are compliant in just over half of the cases with stark and persistent differences across countries. We also detect a distinct cyclical pattern of compliance, which sends false signals of safety in good times.","PeriodicalId":35662,"journal":{"name":"Intereconomics","volume":"12 1","pages":"32 - 42"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75379657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntereconomicsPub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.2478/ie-2023-0012
Mirko Licchetta, Giovanni Mattozzi
{"title":"Convergence in GDP per Capita in the Euro Area and the EU at the Time of COVID-19","authors":"Mirko Licchetta, Giovanni Mattozzi","doi":"10.2478/ie-2023-0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/ie-2023-0012","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper investigates determinants of convergence in GDP per capita in the euro area and the EU between 1995 and 2021. It finds that the COVID-19 crisis temporarily slowed convergence but the estimated negative impact is significantly smaller than during the global financial crisis. Diverging effects emerged linked to the timing of the pandemic, the tightness of lockdown measures and the importance of contact-intensive sectors in the economy, like tourism. However, the easing of lockdown measures coupled with policy support (including the successful vaccination strategy) mitigated the risks of a pandemic-driven persistent divergence in growth. Regression results provide further evidence of convergence in the euro area and the EU over the period 1995-2021 and highlight the slowdown in convergence since the global financial crisis, which can be mostly attributed both to a contraction in investment rates in converging countries and to the limited catch-up in total factor productivity growth, especially in euro area countries.","PeriodicalId":35662,"journal":{"name":"Intereconomics","volume":"149 1","pages":"43 - 51"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75858917","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntereconomicsPub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.2478/ie-2023-0009
A. Rácz, Ole Spillner, G. Wolff
{"title":"Why Sanctions Against Russia Work","authors":"A. Rácz, Ole Spillner, G. Wolff","doi":"10.2478/ie-2023-0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/ie-2023-0009","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia has been under an EU sanctions regime. While these sanctions have not prevented Putin from ordering an invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, in the overall picture, they have significantly weakened Russia’s ability to wage war. This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of the sanctions and argues that the EU should maintain and tighten sanctions, thus further weakening the military and economic power of the Putin regime.","PeriodicalId":35662,"journal":{"name":"Intereconomics","volume":"24 1","pages":"52 - 55"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84849430","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntereconomicsPub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.2478/ie-2023-0004
Isabella M. Weber, Thore Beckmann, Jan-Erik Thie
{"title":"The Tale of the German Gas Price Brake: Why We Need Economic Disaster Preparedness in Times of Overlapping Emergencies","authors":"Isabella M. Weber, Thore Beckmann, Jan-Erik Thie","doi":"10.2478/ie-2023-0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/ie-2023-0004","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35662,"journal":{"name":"Intereconomics","volume":"1 1","pages":"10 - 16"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87352481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntereconomicsPub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.2478/ie-2023-0005
Giuseppe Simone, M. Pianta
{"title":"Understanding Inflation: The Italian Case","authors":"Giuseppe Simone, M. Pianta","doi":"10.2478/ie-2023-0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/ie-2023-0005","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35662,"journal":{"name":"Intereconomics","volume":"2 1","pages":"17 - 21"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87574223","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntereconomicsPub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.2478/ie-2023-0010
R. Veugelers, Clémence Faivre, Désirée Rückert, Christoph T. Weiss
{"title":"The Green and Digital Twin Transition: EU vs US Firms","authors":"R. Veugelers, Clémence Faivre, Désirée Rückert, Christoph T. Weiss","doi":"10.2478/ie-2023-0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/ie-2023-0010","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35662,"journal":{"name":"Intereconomics","volume":"26 1","pages":"56 - 62"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75945062","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntereconomicsPub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.2478/ie-2023-0006
C. Waddams
{"title":"The UK Energy Price Guarantee","authors":"C. Waddams","doi":"10.2478/ie-2023-0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/ie-2023-0006","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35662,"journal":{"name":"Intereconomics","volume":"2 1","pages":"22 - 26"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84126220","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntereconomicsPub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.2478/ie-2023-0007
D. Gros
{"title":"An EU Price Cap for Natural Gas: A Bad Idea Made Redundant by Market Forces","authors":"D. Gros","doi":"10.2478/ie-2023-0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/ie-2023-0007","url":null,"abstract":"The TTF thus represents only the marginal price for smaller quantities of varying amounts. This changed fundamentally when Gazprom cut most of its deliveries to Europe in early summer of 2022. This forced the customers of Gazprom, who had relied on their long-term contracts to go to the TTF to find the missing quanties. Moreover, demand for gas increased beyond the seasonal pattern because of new regulations on minimum storage levels which meant that many were scrambling for the little gas still available, i.e. the small quantities not committed under long-term contracts. The increased demand originated mainly in Germany, which had been the main customer of Gazprom until that point and which has the largest storage sites in the EU. This is why demand outstirpped the normally available supply by far.","PeriodicalId":35662,"journal":{"name":"Intereconomics","volume":"32 1","pages":"27 - 31"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81571384","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntereconomicsPub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.2478/ie-2023-0002
{"title":"Forum Introduction: Tackling the European Energy Crisis","authors":"","doi":"10.2478/ie-2023-0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/ie-2023-0002","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Having had little time to absorb the economic and social shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU is confronted with yet another crisis – rising energy prices due to Russia’s war in Ukraine coupled with inflation reaching historic levels. Household burdens vary greatly across and within EU member states, requiring different policy responses. In most European countries, high energy prices impose a heavier burden on low-income households. Putting compensatory measures in place to support the most vulnerable is therefore a priority. In this Forum, contributors consider specific responses from individual EU member states and the EU as a whole to determine best practices and gauge how they may be more effectively applied.","PeriodicalId":35662,"journal":{"name":"Intereconomics","volume":"45 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90401139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}