The Corner | March 13, 2015 | The ECB’s sovereign bond purchase programme has helped to reduce yields on Spanish bonds to record lows. Data from Italy is likely to show price falls in excess of 2%, while it will be no surprise to see further squabbling between Greece and its creditors over the weekend, particularly with yesterday’s intervention by the OECD.
BRUSSELS | March 5, 2015 | By Alexandre Mato | When presenting its annual report, ‘Going for growth’ in Brussels, the Paris-based institution raised some doubts about the ongoing recovery in Europe. Structural, long-term unemployment and low productivity in some Member States are becoming the main economic issues of concern, with neither investment nor fiscal adjustments seen as the antidote.
MADRID | By Luis Arroyo | What has growth to do with growing inequality? Until recently, we thought that inequality favoured growth, or in anycase it had a neutral impact on it. Growth was the “best supplier” to create new opportunities, through the vertical mobility of the most flexible countries. But the OECD released this report showing how inequality “significantly” curbs economic prosperity. And yet, Krugman is skeptical that the inverse correlation between inequality and growth is so obvious. According to him, strong evidence is lacking, and there are signs that part of inequality can be cured with growth.
MADRID | By Sean Duffy | The OECD´s economic outlook showed that voices calling for action in Europe are growing louder. With the outcomes of austerity and budgetary consolidation continuing to drag down the economy, Catherine L Mann´s arrival as its chief economist represents a significant coup for advocates of the opposite recipe.
MADRID | By Sean Duffy | The latest economic outlook from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) forecasts a bleak outlook for Europe unless action is taken. The Corner asked Piritta Sorsa, Head of EU and Eurozone surveillance at the OECD about the increased sense of urgency, sovereign bond proposals and the necessity for consensus among Eurozone members.
MADRID | By Sean Duffy | The latest OECD report is increasingly urgent in tone, with Europe the centre of attention. With continued wrangling over in the EU about how best to proceed, the Paris based think-thank has had its say on the ECB’s monetary policy too.
MADRID | The Corner | Monetary policy is practically exhausted, there is almost no room for fiscal manoeuver due to the excess of indebtment… the only possible move for Spain now is “reforming the reform,” as Barclays’ Alberto Vigil commented on Tuesday. The Paris-based think-tank, who as usual warned about the huge unemployment rate and the deflation risk on Monday, recommended increasing consumer, property, and green taxes, and reducing employer contributions to social security for less-skilled workers.
SAO PAULO | By Marcus Nunes via Historinhas | This can be inferred from a speech by Rintaro Tamaki, Deputy Secretary-General and acting Chief Economist of the OECD, who for 35 years worked for Japan´s Ministry of Finance: “The chief economist of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Rintaro Tamaki, recently gave a talk that should be heard by all Japanese economists and policy makers. He observed that the aim of Japanese economic policy is still mainly about strengthening growth.”
BERLIN | By Alberto Lozano | Europeans never stop listening to ideas for economic reforms. One potentially successful option, with support from Europe’s leading institutions for smaller economies, is the ¨minijob¨.
But are these atypical jobs the solution to move Spain’s 26 percent unemployment rate closer to Germany’s 5 percent?
THE CORNER TEAM | The economic crisis has inflicted devastating damage on the population: there are 15 million more unemployed people in OECD countries than in 2007. Relative poverty is on the rise. Young people are increasingly dependent on their families. Life satisfaction and citizens confidence in the political system has plummeted, mostly in Greece, Italy and Spain. This is the OECD X-Ray of the challenges ahead.