Special Topics in Economics Policy Summer Semester 2026
Reading for presentations
5 May
Group 1: The Euro and its History – Monetary Policy in the Global Financial Crisis and the Pandemic (6 people)
Completing the Odyssean journey of the European monetary union – Vitor Constancio (3 people)
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2018/html/ecb.sp180517.en.html
Past and future of the ECB monetary policy – Vitor Constancio (3 people)
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2018/html/ecb.sp180504.en.html
Group 2: Fiscal Policy (6 people)
Multiplier Debate – Fiscal Consolidation – At What Speed – Blanchard and Leigh (3 people)
https://voxeu.org/article/fiscal-consolidation-what-speed
Austerity and fiscal adjustments – Alberto Alessina (2 people)
https://voxeu.org/article/fiscal-adjustments-and-recession
https://voxeu.org/article/cut-deficits-cutting-spending
In addition an extra task (1 person): I want for you to make your own first survey and report the results. It will not be representative as you would only ask your fellow students, so you will have a sample of around 20 people, but it is still something. I would like you to ask your colleagues the following question:
Ask you classmates (send them emails and ask them to answer the following question):
If tomorrow by surprise you are given 500 (five hundred) extra dollars (maybe you win the lottery or your university transfers you a one-off extra payment or some other random event that leads to this happens), how much of it would you spend in the next year? You can respond with just a number (either in dollar terms or %) or also with a longer reply if you know exactly what you will do with the money.
You would report first the average value you have obtained; you will search on the Internet for a paper which reports self-reported MPCs (marginal propensities to consume) and will compare its average results with the ones you obtain. Then you will report a bar chart with all answers.
26 May
Group 3 The Draghi Report (8-9 people)
The future of European competitiveness – A competitiveness strategy for Europe
26 Or 28 May
Group 4 Trade Wars and International Macro (5-6 people)
A User’s Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System, Stephen Mirran
