Growth crisis in the EU — challenges and prospects

The following article uses a production function approach to analyse the long-term trends of the European growth potential. It describes the possibility of a further significant decline in the potential growth rate and the mechanisms of this decline. EU Member States are divided into five country groups, and the potential growth rates of each of these as well as the contribution of different growth factors are analysed. The great challenges facing the “catch-up” (Mediterranean and new) Member States with regard to convergence are outlined. Finally, the paper summarises the long-term trends, the impacts of potential shock scenarios on potential growth and the new risks originating from the crisis.     

Green Financial Products in the EU — A Critical Review of the Status Quo

Intereconomics - The financial sector plays an important role in supporting the green transformation of the European economy. A critical assessment of the current regulatory framework for...     

Humanistic and economistic approaches to banking – better banking lessons from the financial crisis?

We sketch out two basic paradigms informing banking practice: the economistic paradigm focusing on profit maximization and the humanistic one, serving the common good. We then highlight paradigmatic cases to explore how each of these business models fared during the quasi‐natural experiment of the financial crisis. We find that many humanistic banks outperformed traditional economistic banks. Despite the uneven playing field humanistic banks fared remarkably well with regard to traditional financial performance judgements, muting criticisms of competitiveness. We find that overall both paradigms can provide a basis for successful banking as long as social and financial value generation are blended. We conclude by providing lessons learned for better banking.     

Financial Street—Landmark of the Beijing Financial Center

Redefining Beijing For a long time Beijing has served as the political and cultural center for the country.While Shanghai and Shenzhen were encouraged to grow and reach their financial goals,Beijing cautiously dodged the label of a"financial center",in order to avoid the criticism of"redundant construc- tion".However,Beijing is the birthplace of China's financial policies.Due to its special geographic position and drive towards     

Weathering storms – Technological exploration of MNCs in times of financial crisis

We generate new knowledge about financial crises and their consequences for MNC technological development, thereby addressing a largely uncharted issue at the crossroads of the organization, strategy and international business literatures. Drawing on threat-rigidity theory, we argue that financial crises have an overall negative effect on MNC technological exploration and that the strength of the effect differs across greenfield and acquired subsidiaries. Results from an empirical investigation of 21 MNCs over the 1890–2008 period suggest that the dampening effect of financial crises on technological exploration is confined to home-country units and greenfield subsidiaries, whereas it is found to be of less significance among acquired foreign subsidiaries. We suggest that such differentiation within the MNC is indicative of a previously unobserved advantage from multinationality, which allows it to smoothen the effects of financial crises on long-term technological development and corporate growth.     

Going for the Wallet? Rule-of-Law Conditionality in the Next EU Multiannual Financial Framework

EU funds that promote economic convergence will hardly reach their objective in countries sliding toward a system that lacks effective checks and balances.The idea of financially sanctioning EU Member States has been advocated for some time and took shape concretely in May 2018. The European Commission presented a draft regulation to sanction Member States with “generalised deficiencies” in the rule of law, which was presented together with a comprehensive proposal for the next MFF.     

Financial Instruments and Promotional Banking in the EU are Growing — But is this Justified?

Institutions and the European Investment Bank are at the forefront of EU investment policy. Their role is expanding and it is now a widely-held position that an improvement in the economy will not eliminate the need for their intervention. The proposals for the 2021–2027 MFF launch more financial instruments and present ‘InvestEU’ as a larger more powerful version of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). However, promotional banking is often misunderstood and so is the actual size of promotional banking in Europe in which InvestEU will operate.     

The Chinese Way of Communication——the analysis of the business discourse in market place

1Theoretical background and relevant literature Much research work about service encounter has already been done.Great bodies of literatures focus on how to create high quality service encounters by improving the skills of the front-line personnel.Burns(1997)notes how“soft”skills are much more important than“hard”technical skills in the service encounter:emotional demands make salespeople be in a positive,joyful and even playful mood.The“soft”skills,in Burns’s view,tend to be the attit…     

What can sector accounts tell about the financial crisis?

The current sovereign debt crisis is widely believed to have been caused by insufficient budget discipline. However, the financial sector accounts reveal that public as well as private borrowing in the euro area was dwarfed by the synchronised explosion of assets and liabilities of financial corporations. The paper suggests that the current concentration on a speedy cutback of public debt is premature at best. Policy should pay more attention to the main causes of the crisis: the excesses of the financial sector and the flaws in the design of the heterogeneous currency union.     

Pension Systems in the EU — Some Policy Issues

Intereconomics - To what extent a pension system can be judged fair given structural differences in life expectancy across socioeconomic groups is not straightforward and will depend on the exact...     

On the crisis of the “liberalization policy” in the economics of interdependence

In spite of all protestations and exhortations it is a fact that trade liberalization, the modern version of free trade, is caught in a crisis. Professor Detlef Lorenz is here analysing the causes of this crisis and suggesting alternatives for a future liberalization policy.     

Public Financial Expenditure——A Reflection of the Livelihood Improvement

In recent years.China's public finance put social construction high on the agenda and attaches more importance on livelihood insurance and improvement.The 2003-2007 public financial expenditure reflects a fact that the government isputting more emphasis on livelihood andissues concerning the people.     

Public Financial Expenditure——A Reflection of the Livelihood Improvement

In recent years,China＇s public finance put social construction high on the agenda and attaches more importance on livelihood insurance and improvement. The 2003-2007 public financial expendi- ture reflects a fact that the government is putting more emphasis on livelihood and issues concerning the people. Implementation of the national financial expenditure reported on NPC and CPPCC surprise people by its considerable increase in education, medical and health, its continuous support in agriculture, rural areas and farmers,     

The global financial crisis and small- and medium-sized enterprises in Japan: how did they cope with the crisis?

In this paper, we examine the nature of the shocks that hit the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Japan during the global financial crisis that occurred in the wake of the massive number of non-performing subprime loans in the U.S. We examine how the SMEs responded to the shocks, using the unique surveys that were conducted by the Research Institute of the Economy, Trade and Industry in 2008 and 2009. The shocks were identified as demand, supply, and financial shocks. The demand shock was the most prevalent of the shocks, while the financial shock was least frequent. The SMEs took a spectrum of measures against the demand shock by seeking help from suppliers and financial institutions. We find that the measures taken by the SMEs crucially depended on the bank–firm relationship as well as the customer–supplier relationship. The bank-dependent SMEs asked their closely-affiliated financial institutions for help, while the SMEs less dependent on financial institutions sought help primarily from their suppliers. A long customer–supplier relationship plays an important role in mitigating the supply shock.     

What drove the financial crisis? Structuring our historical understanding of a predictable evolutionary disaster

This article revisits the 2008 financial crisis, considering how we can draw on the historical record to reappraise what created the problems and inform theory. It looks in detail at neglected factors such as the nature of the selection environment, the agency of actors, and the influence of structure. On the basis of that evidence, as well as the premise that feedback, rather than foresight, drives behavior, we reach new conclusions on what drove the crisis, and open up an exciting opportunity for historical methods to inform theory. This challenges current policy in terms of the idea of ‘Too Big To Fail’ and the focus of regulation; it also helps us revisit the lessons that we should take from this crisis, taking us away from macro-economic factors and individual malfeasance towards structure. Overall, the analysis suggests that a historical, institutional, and evolutionary analysis, based in theory, can add a fresh perspective.     

Financial literacy in the digital age—A research agenda

Digital innovations are transforming financial services and resulting changes in consumer behavior and personal money management. Diffusion of pervasive digital technologies offers individuals quick and easy access to various digital services bringing opportunities and challenges into their personal money management. The study aimed to explore how digitalization affects individuals' financial literacy and financial capability. As a result, we identified three main themes in the intersection of finance and digitalization: Fintech, Financial behavior in digital environments, and Behavioral interventions. We propose directions for measuring digital financial literacy, updates to the financial literacy curriculum, and developments of digital learning tools. Further, we highlight collaboration between the public and private sectors to create a fairer and more inclusive economic landscape. Our study contributes to existing research by proposing a framework for digital financial literacy and financial capability and a research agenda for future studies.     

China＇s Silicon Valley faces tough time in financial crisis

It should have been good year-end sales Season for Huang Ping＇s IT products shop and si shops in Zhongguancun, technology hub in Beijing. But Huang didn＇t See surge in sales. Instead, sales slumped almost one-third Compared the previous year.     

Find the Way out of the Forest——An Update on PE Regulation in China

Since foreign private equity (“PE”) firms first came to China in mid-1990s,they have not slowed down.As rainmakers,they have been participating in big deals changing the landscape of various industries in China.The high rate of return of foreign PE funds in China attracts more and more foreign PE firms to enter into China's PE market.However,as China's domestic PE firms are growing rapidly,foreign PE firms find that they are lost in a forest of rules and regulations which are not friendly towards them.     

European Industrial Policy — Tapping the Full Growth Potential of the EU

Europe, like many of the world’s advanced economies, is facing a fundamental growth challenge. Growth has slowed in the wake of the global financial crisis, as investment has decreased and the legacy of non-performing loans and uncertainty about the institutional arrangements established in response to the crisis are likely to be with us for years. However, the evidence suggests that this slowdown started before the crisis, as improvements in productivity did not come at the same pace as in the past.