vrijdag 22 oktober 2010
The Wars of Austerity
As John Maynard Keynes would have understood well, today’s turmoil over currencies and trade is a direct result of our failure to solve the employment problem. That failure is reflected in the premature withdrawal of fiscal stimulus by all of the world's major economies... Read the complete article on Project Syndicate here.
De Duitse les
Angela Merkel verklaart de multiculturele samenleving dood. Ook in Duitsland wint het migrantendebat aan belang. Lees de volledige column van Hubert van Humbeek in Knack hier.
La Belgique cherche à endiguer l'immigration issue des Balkans
La Belgique s'estime confrontée à un nouvel "afflux massif" de réfugiés en provenance des Balkans, un phénomène que le secrétaire d'Etat belge à l'immigration va tenter d'endiguer en se rendant en Serbie et en Macédoine jusqu'à jeudi, a-t-il indiqué mercredi 20 octobre.
Lisez cet article dans Le Monde ici.
British Fashions Victims
In the spring of 2010, fiscal austerity became fashionable. I use the term advisedly: the sudden consensus among Very Serious People that everyone must balance budgets now now now wasn’t based on any kind of careful analysis. It was more like a fad, something everyone professed to believe because that was what the in-crowd was saying. ...
Read Krugman 's opinion article on the New York Times here.
Photovoltaïque : Nollet l’a dit… mais l’a-t-il fait ?
«La suppression des primes au photovoltaïque est quelque chose de maîtrisé.» Un an après cette l’annonce-choc de la fin de la prime wallonne, où en est le secteur en Belgique ? Il n’a pas été cassé, même s’il a dû s’adapter.
Lisez l'article dans Trends tendances ici.
« Il faut mieux accompagner les chômeurs bruxellois »
L’activation des chômeurs ne se passe pas bien à Bruxelles. Le nombre de demandeurs d’emploi qui concluent un Contrat de projet professionnel avec Actiris est en baisse.
Lisez l'article dans Le Soir ici.
donderdag 21 oktober 2010
A critical assessment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is widely viewed as the most sweeping set of reforms to the US financial sector since the Great Depression. Despite being broadly in favour of the measures, this column identifies flaws that fail to deal with the main causes of the crisis and that will lead to further implicit government guarantees.
Read this article on VoxEU here.
Impôt européen : les pistes… et les autres changements en vue
Le mode de financement actuel de la Commission connaît des effets pervers qui rendent à chaque fois les débats sur les budgets européens ultra-sensibles. José Manuel Barroso presse pour l’instauration de nouvelles taxes proprement européennes. Il envisage notamment une TVA séparée.
Lisez l'article dans Trends tendances ici.
L'électricité verte en hausse
Au 31 décembre 2009, on dénombrait 12.576 sites de production d’électricité verte pour une puissance totale d’environ 900 MW.
Lisez l'article dans LLB ici.
woensdag 20 oktober 2010
Britain Details Radical Cuts in Spending, Citing Debt
The British government unveiled the country’s steepest public spending cuts in decades on Wednesday, sharply reducing welfare benefits, raising the retirement age earlier than planned and eliminating almost half a million public sector jobs over the next four years as the country seeks to free itself of crushing debt from the global financial crisis. Read the complete article in the NYTimes here.
Zwartwerk in horeca niet afgenomen ondanks btw-verlaging
Lees het volledige artikel in De Gazet van Antwerpen hier.
Europees akkoord voor aanpak overtredingen op begrotingsbeleid
De EU-lidstaten zijn het maandag over eens geworden over een sanctionering van landen die de begrotingsregels overtreden, zo heeft Belgisch minister van Financiën Didier Reynders maandag gezegd na een bijeenkomst van de werkgroep ad hoc. Lees het volledige artikel in Trends hier.
dinsdag 19 oktober 2010
Projecting future health care expenditure at European level
Predicting the future evolution of health care expenditure is one of crucial challenges facing the European Union and its Member States in the context of the demographic and social changes taking currently place in Europe. To correctly assess the risk of rising health care spending over the next couple of decades and establish adequate policy responses to the challenges, it is essential to devise a reliable method to estimate future health care expenditure. However, the complexity of the systems and multiplicity of factors affecting both total and public spending make this a highly complicated task, where results will always be surrounded by considerable uncertainties.
To tackle this issue a major project was undertaken by the European Commission and Economic Policy Committee which aimed at projecting future public health care expenditure in twenty seven Member States of the European Union and Norway over the period 2007- 2060. A unique internationally comparable database has been established and a model built allowing to project health care spending in a common, coherent framework of macroeconomic variables and a set of projections covering a number of other age-related items of public social expenditure. The model incorporates the most recent developments in demography and epidemiology and draws on new insights from health economics, allowing the comparison of the risks and challenges facing both individual countries' health care systems and European society in its entirety.
This paper from the European Commission provides a comprehensive overview of the theoretical background, practical aspects of projecting health care expenditure and the actual results of the projections undertaken in the context of long-term budgetary projections.
To tackle this issue a major project was undertaken by the European Commission and Economic Policy Committee which aimed at projecting future public health care expenditure in twenty seven Member States of the European Union and Norway over the period 2007- 2060. A unique internationally comparable database has been established and a model built allowing to project health care spending in a common, coherent framework of macroeconomic variables and a set of projections covering a number of other age-related items of public social expenditure. The model incorporates the most recent developments in demography and epidemiology and draws on new insights from health economics, allowing the comparison of the risks and challenges facing both individual countries' health care systems and European society in its entirety.
This paper from the European Commission provides a comprehensive overview of the theoretical background, practical aspects of projecting health care expenditure and the actual results of the projections undertaken in the context of long-term budgetary projections.
Working and ageing: emerging theories and empirical perspectives
Reviewing current research literature and presenting new empirical findings, the contributions in this book reflect the ways in which retirement and an ageing workforce are at the intersection of key social changes over recent decades. It addresses the question of what factors enable, or hamper, people to continue working at advanced age; it aims to provide sound and accessible evidence and suggest innovative ways of thinking to support active ageing policies.
Read this report from the CEDEFOP here.
A “one dollar, one vote” explanation of the welfare state
Why do Europe and the US, both affluent regions, differ so much in the size of their welfare state? To answer this question, this column examines OECD countries between 1975 and 2001, finding that countries with wealthier rich- and middle-classes are associated with a smaller welfare state while those with a richer poor class are associated with a larger one – supporting the “one dollar, one vote” explanation. Read the complete article on EUVOX here.
Spoorstaking kost 100 miljoen
De stakingsactie van de socialistische vakbond ACOD heeft het treinverkeer gisteren bijna helemaal doen stilvallen. De economische kostprijs is groot. Lees het volledige artikel in De Standaard hier.
From Obama, the Tax Cut Nobody Heard Of
What if a president cut Americans’ income taxes by $116 billion and nobody noticed? Read the complete article in The New York Times here.
Self-employment in Europe 2010
Self-employment makes a considerable contribution to the EU economy in terms of entrepreneurship and job creation and accounted for almost 15% of total employment in the Union in 2009. However, it also carries a degree of risk and EU-level policies have been developed over a number of years to support self-employment and small and medium-sized enterprises. Such measures have been stepped up in the light of the economic crisis and its impact, both at EU- and Member State-level.
Read this EC report here.
Armoede in de uitgebreide EU. Een discussie over definities en referentiegroepen
In deze paper gaan Tim Goedemé en Stijn Rottiers dieper in op de discussie die is ontstaan over de meting van armoede in de Europese Unie. Traditioneel wordt armoede gemeten met behulp van de at-risk-of-poverty indicator. Deze indicator legt de armoedegrens vast op basis van het mediaan inkomen in elke lidstaat. Sinds de toetreding van de Oost-Europese lidstaten sinds 2004 betekent dit dan ook dat wie volgens deze indicator arm is in de Westerse landen meestal in betere materiële levensomstandigheden leeft dan wie arm is in de Oost-Europese lidstaten. Als gevolg daarvan, hebben verschillende auteurs gepleit voor alternatieve, aanvullende armoede-indicatoren.
Lees dit CSB rapport hier.
La zone euro est menacée d’un retour de la récession en 2011
En 2011, les pays de la zone euro vont passer collectivement de la relance à la rigueur budgétaire, alors que la reprise économique est loin d'être assurée et que l'environnement international se dégrade. Les économistes font leurs calculs. Les plans d'austérité retireront près de 1 point de croissance à la zone l'an prochain. Si, en plus, l'euro se maintenait autour de 1,40 dollar, sa surévaluation coûterait près d'un demi-point de plus à la croissance.
Lisez l'article dans Le Monde ici.
Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore
PEOPLE often remember the past with exaggerated fondness. Sometimes, however, important aspects of life really were better in the old days.
Read this article in the New York Times here.
maandag 18 oktober 2010
Het BBP als welvaartsindicator
Als eerste wordt het begrip bbp kort toegelicht (paragraaf 1). De voor- en nadelen die het bbp als welvaartsindicator met zich brengt, worden eveneens besproken. Standpunten van andere economen dan enkel degene van de Stiglitz Commissie worden eveneens belicht. In paragraaf 2 wordt dieper ingegaan op de mogelijkheden die de Commissie voorstelt om het bbp uit te breiden met indicatoren die bepaalde welvaartsaspecten wel in kaart brengen. Tot slot wordt in paragraaf 3 onderzocht welke van deze alternatieve of aanvullende economische indicatoren er bestaan voor België, en in het bijzonder voor het Vlaamse Gewest.
Lees die SVR publicatie hier.
Burden sharing: From theory to practice
The financial crisis has shown that countries put national interests first. On the banking side, the handling of Fortis, Lehman and the Icelandic banks are clear examples of coordination failure. On the sovereign side, the Greek saga illustrates the damage of ad hoc attempts to coordinate. This column explores how burden sharing can be made to work in practice.
Read this article on VoxEU here.
Réformes fiscales en vue : qui sortira gagnant ?
Les réformes fiscales devraient fleurir aux quatre coins du monde afin de ramener les budgets à l’équilibre, prévient KPMG, pour qui les entreprises gagnantes «seront celles qui trouveront le plus rapidement le chemin vers les incitants fiscaux et les régimes fiscaux stables et compétitifs».
Lisez l'article dans Trends tendances ici.
Objectif Terre
Le sommet de Nagoya s’ouvre aujourd’hui. Il devra définir des objectifs et dégager des moyens pour préserver la biodiversité mondiale.
Lisez l'article dans LLB ici.
Les travailleurs belges de plus de 55 ans coûtent trop cher
C'est en Belgique que les travailleurs de plus de 55 ans coûtent le plus cher, par rapport à des travailleurs plus jeunes.
Lisez l'article dans LLB ici.
vrijdag 15 oktober 2010
The Diamond, Mortensen and Pissarides Nobel: Search and market frictions
The 2010 Nobel Prize in Economics has been awarded to Peter Diamond, Dale Mortensen, and Christopher Pissarides "for their analysis of markets with search frictions". This column by Barbara Petrongolo on EUVOX explains how their research relates to fundamental economic issues that are both at the core of the wellbeing of society at large and now near the top of many policymakers’ agendas.
The Price of Knowledge
Lifting tuition caps lets universities grow independently of Westminster. The British Government's proposal to uncap tuition fees for universities is a step in the right direction, but it's been met with howls of outrage from many, who argue that allowing universities to charge more will reduce access to higher education in the U.K. The Conservatives' Liberal Democrat coalition partners, who campaigned on "free" higher education, have threatened to vote the bill down, as their coalition agreement permits. Read the complete article in the WSJ here.
Retirement at 62? Non!
Reform in France will involve tough choices made in the knowledge that the alternative is collapse. Read Roger Cohen's column in The New York Times here.
De vennootschapsbelasting splits je beter niet
Op het gevaar af het Vlaamse front te doorbreken, vertellen JOHAN VANDE LANOTTE en DIRK VAN DER MAELEN graag wat ze vinden van het idee de vennootschapsbelasting te splitsen: niet doen, een hervorming is beter. Lees het volledige opiniestuk in De Standaard hier.
Het kind van de rekening
Loonmatiging en saneren, luidt het mantra vandaag. Daarbij wordt helemaal niet gedacht aan de gevolgen voor de armoede in ons land, die al schrijnend is en alleen maar toeneemt. Lees het opiniestuk van Ewald Pironet in Knack hier.
Currency chaos
The controversy over China’s exchange-rate policy has morphed into a global macroeconomic clash between advanced and emerging countries, owing to a lack of global coordination. This suggests that the solution to currency wars is not to declare a truce, but to recognize the nature of the issue and overcome the problems that block an adjustment that is in everyone's interest. Read Jean Pisani-Ferry's opinion article on Project Syndicate here.
France: Réduction de dépenses publiques, hausse des recettes : la potion de la commission Attali
Ce n’est rien moins qu’une “stratégie à dix ans“ pour relancer la croissance, avec, en prélable, trois ans de traitement choc pour les finances publiques (75 milliards d’euros d’économies), que Jacques Attali propose à Nicolas Sarkozy dans le rapport qu’il devait lui remettre vendredi 15 octobre en fin de journée.
Lisez ce rapport dans Le Monde ici.
Environmental taxation can spur innovation, says OECD
Governments could make better use of environmental taxes to discourage polluting activities and boost innovative ‘green technologies.’
Read this OECD article here.
WTO director-general Pascal Lamy warns of 1930s-style protectionism
International trade could suffer 'tit-for-tat' measures and currency devaluations, WTO's Pascal Lamy says.
Read this article on the guardian.co.uk here.
Bruxelles : 44 actions pour booster la construction durable
Le gouvernement bruxellois a donné son feu vert, jeudi, à un ensemble de 44 actions destinées à soutenir le développement de la construction durable dans la capitale, l'œil rivé sur les nombreux emplois attendus dans le secteur.
Lisez l'article dans Trends tendances ici.
Impôt sur la fortune : la moitié des Belges sont partants
Un Belge sur deux estime qu'il faut instaurer un impôt sur la fortune, selon un nouveau sondage. Les partisans de cette mesure envisageraient un taux de prélèvement de 17 % à partir de 718.000 euros.
Lisez l'article dans Trends tendances ici.
donderdag 14 oktober 2010
The contribution of social transfers to the reduction of poverty
The authors interpret social transfers broadly as a set of measures to reduce or relieve poverty, and study how well this purpose is served in the countries that participated in the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions in 2007. Motivated by the findings, they characterise a social transfer system in a country by its potential and effectiveness, and compare the countries for a range of definitions of the poverty threshold. The methods are also applied to two subpopulations of household types.
Read this IZA report here.
Ensuring globalisation after the great crisis
The global crisis has rocked people’s faith in globalisation. This column introduces a new book arguing that, despite taking a step back, globalisation is one of the most travelled routes the world has known for spreading growth and prosperity. It provides policy recommendations for renovating that road dealing with the WTO, social security, global imbalances, and foreign direct investment.
Read this article on VoxEu here.
Les soins de santé de 1ère ligne trop souvent ignorés
Hasker a enquêté sur la manière dont trois pays mènent leur lutte contre les maladies avec un petit budget consacré à la santé publique.
Lisez l'article dans LLB ici.
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