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INTERECONOMICS – REVIEW OF EUROPEAN ECONOMIC POLICY
Newsletter – Volume 48, September/October 2013
The September/October issue of Intereconomics is highlighted by a Forum that explores the many issues complicating data protection reform in the EU. While the Forum articles are dominated by analysis of the economic issues at stake, the impact of Edward Snowden's leaked NSA documents on the debate is also assessed. Additional contributions include a review of post-crisis austerity measures in the Baltic states, a plea for reform of the EU budget, an analysis of ECB communications and an Editorial that sets out hopes and expectations for Angela Merkel's third term as German chancellor.
Two further notes from a busy autumn: first, the annual Intereconomics conference will be held in Brussels this Friday, 11 October. The focus this year is on inequality in the EU. Second, the Intereconomics website has been redesigned and made more user-friendly. Check it out at www.intereconomics.eu.
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Contents
Featured Topic
Additional Highlights from the Current Issue
Intereconomics Conference
Quote of the Month
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Featured Topic
Last year, the European Commission proposed a comprehensive reform of the EU’s data protection
rules. The proposed regulation has been surrounded by fierce controversy and has been the subject of frenzied lobbying by global corporations, industry groups, research centres and privacy campaigners on both sides of the Atlantic. This Forum applies cool economic reasoning to this heated issue. What are the potential economic benefits of EU harmonisation? Will the proposed regulation negatively impact the competitiveness and innovation of European firms in the global marketplace? Or could it jeopardise attempts to protect privacy as a fundamental right in civil
societies?
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Additional Highlights from the Current Issue
Now that Angela Merkel has won an impressive re-election, Jacques Pelkmans (Centre for European Policy Studies) feels that as an economist, it is tempting, if not a duty, for him to propose a rational, coherent package of EU initiatives and reforms which would significantly improve the performance of the EU economy. His Editorial lays out the policies Merkel is likely to pursue as well as alternatives that could yield greater benefits for Europe.
In this issue's Letter from America, Sylvia Allegretto (University of California) describes the effects of the Great Recession on the economic prospects of U.S. youth. While they suffered more than older cohorts did, youth unemployment rates in the U.S. never reached the heights that they did in Europe.
Nonetheless, additional fiscal stimulus would help to accelerate the slow economic recovery and create more jobs for youth in the U.S.
The Baltic states were arguably the countries most severely affected by the global financial crisis. Karsten Staehr (Tallinn University of Technology) discusses the boom preceding the crisis, the ensuing austerity policies and the economic effects of these policies. All three countries maintained fixed exchange rates, but the degree of fiscal austerity varied across the countries. Growth returned towards the end of 2009, largely driven by exports, but this export performance cannot be directly linked to the austerity policies. The main lesson from the Baltics is that increased macroeconomic stability must be attained by avoiding overheating and unsustainable financial exposure.
Current Issue of Intereconomics Online
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Intereconomics Conference
Intereconomics invites you to attend our annual conference to be held 11 October at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels. The focus of this year's conference will be Inequality in the EU. Presenters include Maurizio Franzini, István Tóth, Gerhard Bosch, Tim Callan, Laura Hospido, Ive Marx and Raymond Maes. Click here for more information and to register for the event.
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Quote of the Month
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...Germany under Merkel is unlikely to join the superficial and selective (if not self-serving) debate on returning EU powers to the Member States that was initiated by the UK political leadership and weakly (and unconvincingly) followed by the Dutch government led by Mark Rutte.
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from Jacques Pelkmans's Editorial Europe Under Merkel's Third Term |
About Intereconomics – Review of European Economic Policy
Intereconomics is jointly produced by ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics and the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). The journal appears bimonthly and features papers by economists that deal with economic and social policy issues and trends in Europe or affecting Europe. To submit a paper for publication, please visit the Call for Papers section of our website for relevant information.
Intereconomics is published by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
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Editorial Office
Intereconomics
ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics
Neuer Jungfernstieg 21
20354 Hamburg, Germany
Phone: +49 (0)40 42834-306/307
Fax: +49 (0)40 42834-262
redaktion@zbw.eu
and
Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Place du Congrès 1
1000 Brussels, Belgium
Phone: +32 (0)2 229 39 11
Fax: +32 (0)2 219 41 51
intereconomics@ceps.eu
Contact
Derek Kruse
Phone: +49 (0)40 42834-412
d.kruse@zbw.eu |
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