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Alberto Alesina

Alberto Alesina is Professor of Economics at Harvard University.

Commentaries by Alberto Alesina

  • The Reform Game

    Reform, when long discussed but never implemented, can do far more harm than good. Anticipation of a reform – say, of pension rules, the hea…

  • The American Way of Debt

    After almost 15 years of unprecedented growth - interrupted only by a brief slowdown in 2000-2001 - the United States has accumulated a huge…

  • The Long Decline of Western Europe?

    It's election season in Germany, France and Italy, so the time for structural reforms is over. Paradoxically, this could be good news for t…

  • Is the European Union imploding?

    The prospect of being accepted into the EU provided the nations of Eastern and Central Europe with a strong incentive to achieve fiscal bala…

  • Politicizing EU Competition Policy

    The new European Commission has been named. What should be its primary goals? The Commission was originally created as a technocratic body r…

  • Europe on Holiday

    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…

  • Melting Pot or Economic Meltdown

    Worried about an invasion of migrant workers from the new member states of Central and Eastern Europe, the old EU members have erected high …

  • The Racism of the Welfare State

    Two demographic acids are corroding Continental Europe's welfare states. One is Europe's aging population. The other is the flow of immigran…

  • Our Unbalanced World

    The search for a new Managing Director of the IMF provides a keen reminder of how unjust today's international institutions are. Created in …

  • Why Shoot Down Ryanair?

    Competition policy is the European Union's biggest success. The reason is simple: decisions in this area have been removed from the jurisdic…

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