Hans-Werner Sinn, Professor of Economics and Public Finance at the University of Munich, was President of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research and serves on the German economy ministry’s Advisory Council. He is the author, most recently, of The Euro Trap: On Bursting Bubbles, Budgets, and Beliefs.
Pushing for the creation of a fiscal union without a political union could forever block the road to European unification, and set the people of Europe against one another more than the euro ever did.… read more
Donald Trump has criticized Germany’s enormous current-account surplus, which he considers the result of German currency manipulation. But Trump is wrong: while Germany’s external surplus, at 8% of GD… read more
EU officials seem determined to make an example of the UK, by denying it a free-trade agreement unless it accepts free movement of people. But, as counter-intuitive as it may seem, refraining from pun… read more
While the world worries about Donald Trump, Brexit, and refugees, the European Central Bank continues to work below the public radar on its debt-restructuring plan – also known as quantitative easing … read more
Almost exactly eight years ago, the Lehman Brothers collapse plunged the entire industrialized world into the worst crisis since the end of World War II. The crisis still has not been fully overcome, … read more
It is impossible to meet all of the following EU goals: internal freedom of movement, a welfare state, and inclusion of migrants in host countries’ welfare systems. Unless the third objective is aband… read more
Two decisions in June will shape the future of Europe: the ruling by Germany's Constitutional Court on whether the Bundesbank may participate in the ECB's bond-buying program and the UK's referendum o… read more
The European Central Bank’s recent policy moves have shocked many observers. But they are just the latest in a string of efforts by the ECB to address the fallout of the collapse of a massive bubble –… read more
Welfare states are fundamentally incompatible with the free movement of people between countries if newcomers have full access to public benefits as soon as they arrive. If we are to take the free mov… read more
