How can economic policy-makers use economic history as a guide for their deliberations and decisions? Focusing on the case of central banking, this essay argues that the virtue of history is not only to improve economic models and quantitative studies, but to provide a perspective distinct from standard economic reasoning.
The doctrine of ‘odious debt’ has often been invoked to call for the cancellation of debts in very specific and complex political contexts. In this stimulating essay, Pierre Pénet endeavours to reconsider its application in today’s society in a more flexible and comprehensive way.
The history of European debt is a cautionary tale about the powerful inducements for households, companies and states to ‘live beyond one’s means’. This risk extends well beyond public finances into the role of the banks in potentially destabilizing credit and money creation. In this essay, Kenneth Dyson addresses this potential “Achilles’ heel” of Europe.
An ambitious environmental tax policy must be part of a broader reform that addresses several problems simultaneously: the equity and progressivity of the tax system, reducing social security withholdings, pension finance, and paying down the debt.
