The year 1945 marked the end of the worst military conflict in history, which brought unprecedented destruction and loss of life. However, the quarter-century that followed is known as the most remarkable period of economic growth and social progress in Europe. This column, part of a Vox debate on WWII, lays out three factors that made this paradox possible: the strong foundations of economic recovery in Western Europe, vital support for the reconstruction of European trade and cooperation, and Allied support for the revival of the German economy. In contrast, Eastern Europe could barely recover due to the demographic disaster from the war.
Global imbalances have reappeared, somewhat transformed, and relocated. Using data from developing and industrialised countries covering 1972-2016, this column shows that fiscal factors, rather than savings glut variables, have accounted for a noticeable share of the recent variation in imbalances, including in the US and Germany. The contribution of demographic factors is large for industrialised countries but not for emerging markets. Net official flows shape global imbalances in both developing and industrialised countries.
The WTO dispute settlement system is in crisis, endangering the future of the organisation. The proximate reason for alarm is the dwindling number of Appellate Body members, the result of the US blocking new appointments as the terms of sitting members expire. The crisis usually is presented as the US against the world. This column reports on the results of a recent survey of WTO Members’ perceptions of the Appellate Body and the role it plays (or should play). Responses reveal strong support for the basic design of the dispute settlement system, but also that the US is not alone in perceiving that the Body has gone beyond its mandate.
Though economic theory clearly makes the case for WTO trade rules, the empirical evidence of their effect is mixed. This column argues that previous studies may have underestimated the positive role of GATT/WTO membership by not taking into account the non-discriminatory nature of their agreements. Besides market access, the agreements provide greater transparency and predictability that benefit WTO members and non-members alike. Taking these effects into account suggests that, on average, GATT/WTO membership has increased trade between Members by 171% and trade between member and non-member countries by about 88%.
Despite around a third of PhDs in economics in the US having been earned by women over the last few decades, under 15% of full professors in the US were women in 2017. This column uses data scraped from research institute websites to investigate whether a similar ‘leaky pipeline’ exists in Europe. It finds that in comparison to the US, European countries have a higher share of women full professors in their research institutions, but the attrition rate between junior and senior ranks is comparable on both sides of the Atlantic. There are important differences throughout Europe, however, with the Nordic countries and France scoring much higher on gender equality than, for instance, Germany and the Netherlands.
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27 - 29 November 2019 / Florence, Italy / Florence School of Banking and Finance, European University Institute
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28 - 29 November 2019 / University Jaume I, Castellon, Spain / University Jaume I. INTECO Joint Research Group.
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12 - 14 December 2019 / National University of Singapore (NUS) / National University of Singapore (NUS)
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16 - 17 December 2019 / Frankfurt am Main / European Central Bank
