Economic and Fiscal Policy

Group 1 - The Covid Crisis and “Freezing the Economy” – Supply and Demand Shocks - 23.11.2020 - Monday

Please read and present:

Likelihood of a coronavirus recession: Views of leading US and European economists

https://voxeu.org/article/economic-impact-pandemic-igm-forum-survey

Baldwin: How we should think about containing covid19 economic crisis

https://voxeu.org/article/how-should-we-think-about-containing-covid-19-economic-crisis

Flattening the Pandemic and Recessionary Curve

https://econfip.org/policy-brief/flattening-the-pandemic-and-recession-curves/

Coronavirus and macroeconomic policy

https://voxeu.org/article/coronavirus-and-macroeconomic-policy

Group 2 / Monetary Policy, “Whatever It Takes” and QE - 07.12.2020 - Monday

Introduction to what the ECB has done in 2012

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-11-27/3-words-and-3-trillion-the-inside-story-of-how-mario-draghi-saved-the-euro

Monetary Policy since the crisis: Speech by Peter Praet (1 - 2 people)

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2017/html/sp170316.en.html

Helicopter Money: The Time is Now

https://econfip.org/policy-brief/helicopter-money-the-time-is-now/

The monetary policy response to the pandemic emergency

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/blog/date/2020/html/ecb.blog200501~a2d8f514a0.en.html

Vitor Constancio – Past and future of the ECB monetary policy (This is additional material that is also a bit technical, but you can use it if you think the above material is not enough for everybody)

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2018/html/ecb.sp180504.en.html

Group 3 - Fiscal Policy – Austerity and Government Spending Multipliers - 14.12.2020 - Monday

Please cover:

Multiplier Debate - Fiscal Consolidation - At What Speed - Blanchard and Leigh

https://voxeu.org/article/fiscal-consolidation-what-speed

Austerity and fiscal adjustments - Alberto Alessina

https://voxeu.org/article/fiscal-adjustments-and-recession

https://voxeu.org/article/cut-deficits-cutting-spending

The New View on Fiscal Policy – by Jason Furman

https://voxeu.org/article/new-view-fiscal-policy-and-its-application (this is a summary, please also read the whole article for clarification and details:

Please, make sure you explain well the concept of Ricardian equivalence in your presentation. It will be important for the exam.

Group 4 - Fiscal and Monetary Policy Responses to the Covid Crisis at the Euro Area Level, Monetary Fiscal Interactions - 22.12.2020 Tuesday

As usual, please have in mind that you can split the material in other proportions regarding your own preference.

Let's start with this more advanced text, a speech by Chris Sims from 3 years ago, where he explains how monetary and fiscal policy interact with each other. Two people can take this text if it seems more advanced.

https://www.kansascityfed.org/~/media/files/publicat/sympos/2016/luncheon-discussion.pdf?la=en

Completing the Odyssean journey of the European monetary union - Vitor Constancio (same here, two people can take this)

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2018/html/ecb.sp180517.en.html

The European policy response - two proposals of European top economists:

https://voxeu.org/article/proposal-covid-credit-line

Repair and reconstruct: A Recovery Initiative

https://voxeu.org/article/repair-and-reconstruct-recovery-initiative

Group 5 - Fiscal and Monetary Policy Responses in the US - 12.01.2021 - Tuesday

Speech by Jay Powell at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, 13 May: Current Economic Issues

https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/powell20200513a.htm

Keeping Businesses Alive - Saez and Zucman

https://econfip.org/policy-brief/keeping-businesses-alive-the-government-will-pay/

Christina Patterson: The most exposed workers in the coronavirus recession are also key consumers: Making sure they get help is key to fighting the recession

https://equitablegrowth.org/the-most-exposed-workers-in-the-coronavirus-recession-are-also-key-consumers-making-sure-they-get-help-is-key-to-fighting-the-recession/

Viral recessions: Lack of demand during the coronavirus crisis - Werning, Lorenzoni, Straub and Guerrieri

https://voxeu.org/article/lack-demand-during-coronavirus-crisis

As usual, please have in mind that you can split the material in other proportions regarding your own preference. I have only given you indicative guidance how it seemed to me to be fair, you can decide how many people take each of the materials yourself.