To be successful you need to built on this small step with growth-enhancing policies, with reforms that ensure the rule of law and with investing in your talents, technology and well-working institutions. Without all this, the euro will not lead you there where you want to be.
The euro itself is not a panacea or a growth-enhancing miracle. It is only one step that helps you with more security and certainty, better credit rating, no shadow risk of doing something crazy, some costs spared, a seat at the table. 9/n
There are indeed worrying issues with the euro such as the the budgetary situation of France and its inability to implement serious reforms. Both the fiscal situation and the TPI present concerns, but the euro has survived much worse things in its past 25 years. 8/n
So to summarize - for 25 years we have had no control on monetary policy, for 5 years we have also outsourced part of our banking supervision. Now we get to be represented at the main decision-making body of the ECB - and it will be up to us how well we are represented. 7/n
Yet the biggest benefit I believe is being able to participate in decisions - which we have now for 25 years outsourced to others. The way the currency board works, we have decided that the ECB will decide our monetary policy and we will just obey. 6/n
Cost savings for households however will come from eliminating conversion costs - when sending money, buying & travelling. Remittances from Bulgarians abroad have sometimes been higher than FDI! And conversion costs can be up to 3%-4% (which is crazy) 5/n
It is government bond yields which are profiting from the better credit ratings. The Bulgarian spread to German debt has decreased from an average 1.6 pp in 2024 to 1.3 in 2025 as the euro decision was finalised. And this happened at a time when the deficit has worsened.4/n
The euro in Bulgaria cant be seriously expected to lower interest rates for households right away - interest rates in Bulgaria have become detached from ECB interest rates in recent years and barely move - due to overliquidity in the banking system and lack of competition. 3/n
For Bulgaria, joining the euro is foremost a geopolitical decision. It has some positives in saving us money for conversion, improving our credit rating and making our debt cheaper, and strengthening our ability to be part of EU decisions. Long post: 2/n
open.substack.com/pub/thebumbl...
Calls to break the euro are back in vogue so I decided to write again on why Bulgaria is joining now and how it helps us – with better ratings, saving costs and improving our EU representation. The euro is a vital geopolitical step, but not a panacea if u have bad policies. 1/n
In this position, you will be able to learn more about state-of-the-art models of household inequality and monetary policy and work with distributional data on household balance sheets. More info here:
www.wifo.ac.at/en/news/wifo...
I'm recruiting - come work with me in the next months! If you're graduate student, preferably Econ Masters stdnt, have interest in monetary policy & inequality, join me @wifo.bsky.social as RA for my upcoming @oenb.at Anniversary Fund project on Monetary Policy & Redistribution. Info below!
More on Stantcheva, who btw is an immigrant from Bulgaria.
www.imf.org/en/Publicati....
One of the most inspiring economists of our time, hard to imagine anybody deserving it more. Congratulations
@s-stantcheva.bsky.social for winning the John Bates Clark Medal! Amazing work on public economics, taxation, innovation, political economy and much more! Chapeau!
#WIFOMonatsberichte: 2024 war die Lücke in der Produktivitäts- & BIP-Entwicklung, die sich in den letzten 2 Jahrzehnten zwischen 🇪🇺 und 🇺🇸 aufgetan hat, ein Hauptthema der wirtschaftspolitischen Debatte in der EU. @atanaspekanov.bsky.social buff.ly/5smlJ4d
Trump and Vance destroying all respect for the US in front of the whole world.
As part of the nominating team, I cannot be happier for my intellectual role models and mentors for this long-overdue recognition. Here is to more!
www.premiosfronterasdelconocimiento.es/noticias/pre...
Draghi: "About the fear of creating public debt. Let me remind you another thing. If you look at the last 15, 20 years, the United States government has injected into the economy $14 plus trillion, we did seven times less. Now, it must have produced some difference".
Draghi: "You say no to public debt. You say no to the single market. You say no to create a capital market union. You can't say no to everything. Otherwise, you have also to admit that you are not able to deliver on the fundamental values for which this EU has being created".
@atanaspekanov.bsky.social:
"Draghi: "You say no to public debt. You say no to the single market. You say no to create a capital market union. You can't say no to everything. Otherwise, you have also to admit that you are not able to deliver on the fundamental values for which this EU been created""
Important to keep active discussion between European Parliament & ECB given the challenges the EU economy are undergoing. Happy to see many of Europe's leading monetary economists in the list! @bernothkerstin.bsky.social
www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/2928...
Members of the expert panel prepare policy notes on various central banking related issues. These are used by the ECON Committee for the Hearings with President Lagarde (the Monetary Dialogue), which take place four times a year.
Very happy to be chosen again by @europarl.europa.eu ECON Committee to serve as an expert on the Monetary Policy Expert Panel for the next 4 years. The Panel provides insights to the ECON Committee on monetary policy to prepare the Monetary Dialogue with ECB President Lagarde. @wifo.bsky.social
In einem aktuellen #WIFO Research Brief von @atanaspekanov.bsky.social und @gfelbermayr.bsky.social werden die wichtigsten Punkte des "Competitiveness Compass" der Europäischen Kommission zusammengefasst und analysiert. https://buff.ly/42CCOz0
Dynamic pricing ;) unfortunately became pejorative due to concert ticket demand (although it shouldnt be)...
If you are in Vienna (or online), you can register to visit here:
www.oenb-events.at/en/oenb-frei...
A 1-percentage-point interest rate decrease through its unequal effects on earnings, nominal assets & interest rate payments redistributes from low MPC to high MPC households. This increases the consumption response by 14% in comparison to a rep agent New Keynesian model.
Delighted to talk this Friday at the Austrian National Bank Research Seminar on my research on Monetary Policy & the Redistribution Channel in the Euro area. In this paper, I show how implicit redistribution after interest rate cuts amplifies the effects of monetary policy.
The LA wildfires have given landlords an opportunity to raise rents. California has anti-price-gouging regulation that might prevent that.
If you want to step beyond Econ 101, here’s a recent Econometrica paper that shows how price caps can raise welfare.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.3...
This is factually correct, a positive development, and the Innovation Scoreboard database is a great source. But we should admit the grim reality of total EU R&D – according to 2023 data EU firms invested in R&D 235 bn €, while US firms invested.. 531 bn €! Miles apart.
ec.europa.eu/commission/p...
