Reports of Professor Enrico Colombatto
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COVID-19 and the future of central banking
As the coronavirus pandemic freezes large swaths of the economy, the world’s three most important central banks find themselves under tremendous political pressure to flood the markets with easy money again. Their approaches may prove significantly different.
Europe after the crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic is dealing body blows to the world economy, but it is not the root cause of concerns about Europe’s future. Brussels’ and Frankfurt’s stock responses to the impending crisis – money printing, easy credit and massive public expenditure – only bring Europe closer to socialist-style centralization.
Britain will thrive after Brexit only if it dares to reform
Leaving the high-cost, bureaucratized European Union is not enough for the UK to unleash its entrepreneur potential, boost its share in global trade and return to high growth. To bring benefits, Brexit would need to be followed by bold liberal reforms: cutting taxes, rolling back government spending and reducing excessive, ...
Learning the lessons of wasteful education spending
The OECD’s recent education scores underline once again how poorly schools are educating today’s youth – even despite significant spending increases. The results will probably spur further calls for more education funding so that students can stay in school even longer. Doing so, however, may not necessarily give students better ...
The Chinese challenge and Europe’s dithering
Europe is hesitating in the face of the Chinese technological challenge. The current tensions between Washington and Beijing open plenty of opportunities to cooperate with China. At the same time, however, the U.S. administration is putting pressure on its allies, counting on a common front against Beijing. Choosing either side ...
Will the EU change its focus and reshape its budget?
Despite a disappointing economic track record, the European Union still has significant support among voters. However, this popularity is mostly due to a lack of trust in national politics. To live up to the public’s expectations, the EU will need to make significant adjustments to its spending patterns to tackle ...
Opinion: The mysterious case of CEOs turning green
It is unusual when CEOs purport to define their companies’ overarching objectives – that’s the shareholders’ job. Things become even curiouser when top managers team up with an international bureaucracy to call for the imposition of tighter environmental standards on business. Look for mundane motives, like sending out a profit warning ...
Focus Germany: Foreign trade – clouds on the horizon
German trade statistics are sagging. Most commentators attribute this phenomenon to the global business cycle. More likely, today’s figures are the outcome of earlier decisions made by German companies to move resources outside of Europe, and they are now developing their products elsewhere. If true, German foreign trade flows will ...
