BRUSSELS – The most visible symptom of the crisis in the eurozone has been the high and variable risk premiums that its peripheral countries…

BRUSSELS – The root of the problem in Cyprus is well known. Its two major banks had attracted huge deposits from abroad, largely from Russia…

BRUSSELS – Ten years ago, Germany was considered the sick man of Europe. Its economy was mired in recession, while the rest of Europe was re…

BRUSSELS – Interest in small countries’ economic policies is usually confined to a small number of specialists. But there are times when sma…

BRUSSELS – At high-level gatherings of the European Union elite, one often hears the following type of statement: “Europe must integrate and…

BRUSSELS – A key question confronts the four presidents of Europe’s major institutions (the European Commission, the European Council, the E…

BRUSSELS – A financial crisis erupts when a large volume of assets in the financial system suddenly appears to be risky and investors want t…

BRUSSELS – The global energy community is abuzz with excitement about hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” a newish technology that has open…

BRUSSELS – The misguided belief that “this time is different” led policymakers to permit the credit boom of the early 2000’s to continue for…

BRUSSELS – The emerging consensus in Europe nowadays is that only “debt mutualization” in the form of Eurobonds can resolve the euro crisis,…

BRUSSELS – At the beginning of the financial crisis, it was said that banks were, in Charles Goodhart’s crisp phrase, “international in life…

BRUSSELS – The European Union is a voluntary quasi-federation of sovereign and democratic states in which elections matter and each country …

BRUSSELS – A few months ago, 25 of the 27 members of the European Union solemnly signed a treaty that committed them to enshrining tough def…

BRUSSELS – More than three years after the financial crisis that erupted in 2008, who is doing more to bring about economic recovery, Europe…

BRUSSELS – The first de facto default of a country classified as “developed” has now taken place, with private international creditors “volu…

BRUSSELS – Europe seems to be obsessed with austerity. Country after country is being forced by either the financial markets or the European…

BRUSSELS – Great empires rarely succumb to outside attacks. But they often crumble under the weight of internal dissent. This vulnerability …

BRUSSELS – European policymakers like to extol the strength of the eurozone: relative to the United States, it has a much lower fiscal defic…

BRUSSELS – Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou’s call to hold a referendum on the rescue package agreed at the eurozone summit in late Oc…

BRUSSELS – A central bank always has a crucial role to play in a financial crisis. But the European Central Bank’s role within the eurozone …

BRUSSELS – Is the eurozone stepping back from the brink? This might just be possible, because the emerging outlines of a new framework to re…

BRUSSELS – Interest rates are now close to zero throughout the developed world (the United States, Europe, and Japan). But the global econom…

BRUSSELS – The first act of the eurozone debt drama was about whether any European Union member country could ever become insolvent. It ende…

BRUSSELS – Once upon a time, there was a country plagued by large deficits, high inflation, and decades of economic stagnation. When economi…

BRUSSELS – Greece’s ballooning public debt is again throwing Europe’s financial markets into turmoil. But why should a debt default by the g…