Alberto Alesina
Alberto Alesina is Professor of Economics at Harvard University.
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2004-12-20
| Reform, when long discussed but never implemented, can do far more harm than good. Anticipation of a reform – say, of pension rules, the health system, or unemployment benefits – worries everyone who might feel the impact. In response, they cut consumption and save more, expecting that sooner or later they will have to start paying for some of the services they had been used to getting free or at subsidized rates. ... read |
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2004-11-22
| After almost 15 years of unprecedented growth - interrupted only by a brief slowdown in 2000-2001 - the United States has accumulated a huge stock of foreign liabilities, equivalent to 25% of its GDP. With the current account deficit now exceeding 5% of GDP, US foreign debt is rising fast. But no country can accumulate debt forever - and what cannot last sooner or later must end. ... read |
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2004-10-29
| It's election season in Germany, France and Italy, so the time for structural reforms is over. ... read |
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2004-09-29
| The prospect of being accepted into the EU provided the nations of Eastern and Central Europe with a strong incentive to achieve fiscal balance - a process somewhat similar to what happened in Western Europe at the time the euro was launched. In both cases, however, after initial progress, countries have shown clear signs of political "fatigue": in the euro area, the Stability Pact has imploded; throughout Eastern Europe, budget deficits have started to rise. ... read |
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2004-08-13
| The new European Commission has been named. What should be its primary goals?... read |
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2004-06-16
| Currently, the average number of hours worked per person aged 15 to 25 each year in France and Germany is about 50% lower than in the United States. Other European countries (for example, Italy and Spain) fall somewhere between these poles. Although some Americans always like to boast about their superior work ethic, this disparity in working hours between the US and Europe has not always existed. Indeed, until the mid-1970's, the number of hours worked on either side of the Atlantic was roughly the same.... read |
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2004-05-20
| Worried about an invasion of migrant workers from the new member states of Central and Eastern Europe, the old EU members have erected high barriers in order to prevent the flow. Despite the open market rhetoric of the EU, for most citizens of the new member states free labor mobility will not be a reality for the next seven years at least. ... read |
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2004-04-22
| Two demographic acids are corroding Continental Europe's welfare states. One is Europe's aging population. The other is the flow of immigrants from soon-to-be new member countries in the European Union and from outside the union.... read |
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2004-03-24
| The search for a new Managing Director of the IMF provides a keen reminder of how unjust today's international institutions are. Created in the postwar world of 1945, they reflect realities that have long ceased to exist.... read |
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Why Shoot Down Ryanair?
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Alberto Alesina and Francesco Giavazzi 
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Competition policy is the European Union's biggest success. The reason is simple: decisions in this area have been removed from the jurisdiction of individual nations, thus making them more difficult to influence. The result is that the many lobbies that oppose increased competition, or fight to protect state aid, have been hugely weakened. But has the anti-trust fight gone too far?... read
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2003-09-26
| In the second half of the 1990's, Europe's average annual growth rate of productivity amounted to 0.7%, while the US hummed along at 1.4%. However, if we distinguish between the industries that produce information and communications technologies (ICT) and those that are simply users of such technologies, we can see that the productivity growth gap stems almost entirely from the weakness of Europe's ICT producing sector. Annual productivity growth in sectors that are users of ICT technologies averaged 0.63% in the US between 1995 and 2000, and a very similar 0.41% in Europe. ... read |
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2004-12-20
| Reform, when long discussed but never implemented, can do far more harm than good. Anticipation of a reform – say, of pension rules, the health system, or unemployment benefits – worries everyone who might feel the impact. In response, they cut consumption and save more, expecting that sooner or later they will have to start paying for some of the services they had been used to getting free or at subsidized rates. ... read |
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2004-05-20
| Worried about an invasion of migrant workers from the new member states of Central and Eastern Europe, the old EU members have erected high barriers in order to prevent the flow. Despite the open market rhetoric of the EU, for most citizens of the new member states free labor mobility will not be a reality for the next seven years at least. ... read |
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2004-02-18
| Competition policy is the European Union's biggest success. The reason is simple: decisions in this area have been removed from the jurisdiction of individual nations, thus making them more difficult to influence. The result is that the many lobbies that oppose increased competition, or fight to protect state aid, have been hugely weakened. But has the anti-trust fight gone too far?... read |
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2004-06-16
| Currently, the average number of hours worked per person aged 15 to 25 each year in France and Germany is about 50% lower than in the United States. Other European countries (for example, Italy and Spain) fall somewhere between these poles. Although some Americans always like to boast about their superior work ethic, this disparity in working hours between the US and Europe has not always existed. Indeed, until the mid-1970's, the number of hours worked on either side of the Atlantic was roughly the same.... read |
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2004-11-22
| After almost 15 years of unprecedented growth - interrupted only by a brief slowdown in 2000-2001 - the United States has accumulated a huge stock of foreign liabilities, equivalent to 25% of its GDP. With the current account deficit now exceeding 5% of GDP, US foreign debt is rising fast. But no country can accumulate debt forever - and what cannot last sooner or later must end. ... read |
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2004-09-29
| The prospect of being accepted into the EU provided the nations of Eastern and Central Europe with a strong incentive to achieve fiscal balance - a process somewhat similar to what happened in Western Europe at the time the euro was launched. In both cases, however, after initial progress, countries have shown clear signs of political "fatigue": in the euro area, the Stability Pact has imploded; throughout Eastern Europe, budget deficits have started to rise. ... read |
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2004-04-22
| Two demographic acids are corroding Continental Europe's welfare states. One is Europe's aging population. The other is the flow of immigrants from soon-to-be new member countries in the European Union and from outside the union.... read |
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2004-08-13
| The new European Commission has been named. What should be its primary goals?... read |
