"This is the seventh annual report issued by the CEPS Macroeconomic Policy Group since it was reconstituted at the start of economic and monetary union in 1999. This distinguished group of economists argues that a combination of slow growth, inadequate policy responses and newly emerging intra-area divergences are putting EMU at risk. Against this background, the MPG recommends that the ECB should downgrade its short-term concern about cyclical economic developments and pursue a monetary policy aimed at preserving the value of the euro in the long-term. Moreover, it urges the core countries to urgently return to fiscal discipline, both in their own interest and to set an example that would allow them to exert pressure on potential soft currency countries to do the same."--CEPS website.

Over the past decade, the global economy has been on a dynamic path that is clearly unsustainable, with ever-increasing current account deficits in the United States, financed by surpluses in emerging market economies. In its latest report, the authoritative CEPS Macroeconomic Policy Group explores the link between the U.S. deficits and the global savings-investment equilibrium. They find that the U.S. deficit is likely to be even larger than officially reported and that policymakers do not seem willing to undertake the necessary policy adjustments to reduce it. Nevertheless, a reduction in the global supply of savings may force an increase in global interest rates and thus a slowdown in U.S. domestic demand--thus initiating a gradual reduction in deficits. The authors argue that a key responsibility of U.S. policymakers is to allow this process to happen, thereby avoiding the risk of a disruptive adjustment later.

"This is the fifth in a series of annual reports produced by the CEPS Macroeconomic Policy Group (MPG), composed of distinguished economists from throughout Europe who have undertaken to carry out independent, in-depth research on current developments in the European economy. This year's report documents the ongoing slowdown in productivity growth in Euroland and concludes that it cannot be cured by an expansionary fiscal policy. On the contrary, governments should concentrate on pension reform and cuts in age-related entitlements, in view of their rapidly ageing populations. The group broadly welcomes the strategic review underway at the European Central Bank, but the ECB should look more at financial structures than at money supply numbers. The report also advocates the creation of a Mr Euro."--CEPS website.

Where is Europe going? In this 2007 collection, several prominent European economists offer essays on the five big challenges to the development of the European Union (EU). Namely, the new European Constitution, European finances and the euro, the need to boost economic growth, competition in both new member states and countries further to the East, and the goal of forming a cooperative and productive relationship with countries on the European periphery. The book includes essays by Charles Wyplosz, who argues that enlargement and deepening are not substitutes but complements; Vito Tanzi who questions the Keynesian foundation of the Growth and Stability Pact; Daniel Gros, who criticises the achievements within the Lisbon Agenda, as well as essays by Anders Aslund, who claims that Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs differ little from US 'robber barons'. The final two chapters discuss the EU's European Neighbourhood Policy and long-term economic integration in Eurasia. Listed in the Economist Top 100 Books of 2007.

Europe‘s economy is under strain due to lagging productivity growth, population ageing, the difficulties of adjustment in an enlarged European Union, and the challenges of globalization. In comparison with America, rates of growth of GDP per capita and labour productivity growth are anaemic, raising questions about the viability of a distinct Europ

In this volume, a wide range of leading policy makers and practitioners reflect on the aims and objectives of monetary policy and on what it can achieve, The contributors include: * Tony Blair * Sir Samuel Brittan * Gordon Brown * Kenneth Clarke * Eddie George * Geoffrey Howe * Nigel Lawson * Peter Liley * Gordon Richardson * Lionel Robbins * Jonathon Sacks * Hans Tietmeyer. Policy Makers on Policy represents twenty five years of monetary policy. This topical collection brings together major politicians and thinkers, and will be of.