This morning the Financial Times published a comment piece by Adam Posen and myself, in which we briefly outline the proposal of our policy brief 'A Solution for Europe's Banking problem', that a number of European states should jointly create a trustee to manage the triage, restructuring and resolution processes that are indispensible to heal the European banking system.
Download FT_090702 if the above link does not work.
In a new Bruegel Policy Brief co-authored with Adam Posen, we describe 'Europe's banking problem' as a high reliance of the European economy on a badly damaged banking system. History confirms the only way to solve it is 'triage', i.e. differentiation among banks on the basis of their actual capital position assessed through a consistent process and publicly disclosed, then restructuring of those banks which would not subsequently succeed to meet their capital needs.
But in continental Europe, advanced cross-border integration means that triage and restructuring cannot be effective if conducted only at national level. As no existing supranational institutions can realistically do the job, we advocate the creation of a temporary fiduciary agency or 'Bank Treuhand' by a critical mass of European countries. The Treuhand would assess major banks' balance sheets and publish triage results, catalyse restructurings by being a broker for negotiation among national governments, and manage distressed assets that would be brought into public ownership as the result. It would also buy time, and pave the way, for the longer-term task of reforming the EU's supervisory architecture in order to make cross-border banking sustainable.
Download BruegelPolicyBrief_110609 to download and read the Policy Brief (only in English).
Download PIIE_PolicyBrief_110609 to read the piece as published by the Peterson Institute for International Economics on 16 June 2009
In this piece for the E!Sharp website, I argue that the European Commission is not so much to blame for its decisions (or lack thereof) since the start of the crisis, than it is at fault for not providing a vision of Europe's financial system to other policymakers and the public. The lack of long-term direction is a particularly severe shortcoming in a time of turmoil, which creates so many opportunities for policy mistakes.
Vox, the economics debating website, has published an updated English version of my piece of last Monday in La Tribune.
Download Text_Vox_May09 in case the above link is broken.
In a column published today by La Tribune, I look at the institutional vulnerabilities of the International Accounting Standards Board. I conclude that in spite of recent and important improvements, the IASB is ill-equipped to withstand the increasing political pressure on accounting standards-setting.
Download Tribune_090525_en to read the English version, and Download Tribune_090525 as originally published in French.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has conducted a public consultation on the roadmap it proposed last year (under then-Chairman Chris Cox) to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards in America. Yesterday I responded with a few suggestions about how the SEC should both support IFRS, and push for reforms of standard-setting and global enforcement.
Download BruegelPolicyContribution_Apr09_SEC to read my letter, as subsequently published by Bruegel in its Policy Contribution series.
In this column published today in La Tribune, I note that European Policymakers have not started to tackle the necessary restructuring of the banking sector. On the continent, the industry is too integrated to be handled on a purely national basis. But there is no working cross-border policy framework yet. Urgent action is needed -- and the political challenges are breathtaking.
Download Tribune_090415_en to read the piece in English, and Download Tribune_090415 as originally published in French.
In this new post for the National Journal's Economy Blog, I comment Simon Johnson's widely-read piece in the Atlantic in which he compares the US situation with many emerging countries' "crony capitalism". While I essentially agree with Johnson's assessment, I also bring some qualifications.
Download NationalJournal_090413 in case the above link does not work - but the blog version is better as it also includes other participants' views.
In this post on the National Journal's economy expert blog, I look at last week's London summit and try to compare what it achieved with what it could realistically be expected to. This leads me to a fairly positive assessment.
Download NationalJournal_060409 if the above link does not work - but the online version is better.
Le grand dérèglement: Chroniques du capitalisme financier, a collection of my colums published over the past four years, is published today by Editions Lignes de Repères and available in bookstores throughout France.
It is a merciless, warts-and-all exercise: included are almost all columns written for La Tribune since March 2005 (bar four which the publisher thought were redundant), without any editing or updating in the text.
Columns are sorted into three thematic sections: the crisis; regulation and governance; globalisation and France.
Download GrandDereglement to read the corresponding press release in French.
