Real effective exchange rates for 178 countries: A new database

We use data on exchange rates and consumer price indices and the weighting matrix derived by Bayoumi, Lee and Jaewoo (2006) to calculate consumer price index-based REER. The main novelties of our database are that (1) it includes data for 178 countries –many more than in any other publicly available database– plus an external REER for the euro area, using a consistent methodology; (2) it includes up-to-date REER values, such as data for January 2012; and (3) it is relatively easy to calculate REER against any arbitrary group of countries. The annual database is complete for 172 countries and the euro area for 1992-2011 and data is available for six other countries for a shorter period. For several countries annual data is available for earlier years as well, eg data is available for 67 countries from 1960. The monthly database is complete for 138 countries for January 1995-January 2012, and data is also available for 15 other countries for a shorter period. The indicators calculated by us are freely downloadable and will be irregularly updated

Geometric pluripotential theory on K\"ahler manifolds

Finite energy pluripotential theory accommodates the variational theory of equations of complex Monge-Amp\`ere type arising in K\"ahler geometry. Recently it has been discovered that many of the potential spaces involved have a rich metric geometry, effectively turning the variational problems in question into problems of infinite dimensional convex optimization, yielding existence results for solutions of the underlying complex Monge-Amp\`ere equations. The purpose of this survey is to describe these developments from basic principles

A NEW LOOK AT NET BALANCES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION’S NEXT MULTIANNUAL BUDGET. Bruegel Working Paper Issue 10 12 December 2019

Whenever the European Union’s budget is discussed, much of the political focus is on net balances – whether countries pay in more than they receive – rather than on the broader overall positive effects of EU spending. The largest net contributor countries have sought to limit their contributions, leading to the build-up of an ad-hoc, complex, opaque and regressive system of revenue corrections. To inform debate on the 2021-2027 EU budget, I estimated the impact on net balances of the 2018 European Commission multiannual budget proposal, under three scenarios: elimination of rebates for all of the 2021-2027 new budget period, gradual elimination of rebates and non-elimination of rebates. These estimates were done on the basis of the EU’s ‘operating budgetary balance’ indicator, and on the basis of a new and broader indicator, the ‘net direct balance’. The calculation also takes into account the estimated net contribution of the United Kingdom to the 2021-2027 EU budget based on the draft EU-UK withdrawal agreement. Under the baseline scenario of the Commission’s proposal, those member states that currently benefit from rebates would face between 0.01 percent of GNI and 0.06 percent of GNI increases in their net contributions to the EU budget, measured by the EU’s operating budgetary balance indicator. Meanwhile, central and eastern European member states that received several percent of their GNI as net payments from the EU in 2014-2020 would face significant reductions, though they would still receive net payments of about two percent of their GNI in 2021-2027. The methodology in this paper can be easily applied to estimate the net balance implications of any new MFF proposal

Exchange Rate Policy and Economic Growth after the Financial Crisis in Central and Eastern Europe

In a paper on the effects of the global financial crisis in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the author reacts to a paper of Åslund (2011) published in the same issue of Eurasian Geography and Economics on the influence of exchange rate policies on the region’s recovery. The author argues that post-crisis corrections in current account deficits in CEE countries do not in themselves signal a return to steady economic growth. Disagreeing with Åslund over the role of loose monetary policy in fostering the region’s economic problems, he outlines a number of competitiveness problems that remain to be addressed in the 10 new EU member states of CEE, along with improvements in framework conditions supporting future macroeconomic growth

The Mabuchi Geometry of Finite Energy Classes

We introduce different Finsler metrics on the space of smooth K\"ahler potentials that will induce a natural geometry on various finite energy classes $\mathcal E_{\tilde \chi}(X,\omega)$. Motivated by questions raised by R. Berman, V. Guedj and Y. Rubinstein, we characterize the underlying topology of these spaces in terms of convergence in energy and give applications of our results to existence of K\"ahler-Einstein metrics on Fano manifolds.Comment: Introduction rewritten. No other significant change

Debt Restructuring in the Euro Area: a Necessary but Manageable Evil?

There are two possible responses to the Greek debt crisis: ‘Plan A’, continued official lending, for as long as needed, with possible voluntary private sector involvement, and ‘Plan B’, coercive preemptive or post-default restructuring with significant face value reduction in privately-held debt. Both options have risks, but it is necessary to move to Plan B sooner or later. The impact on Greece could be mitigated by foreign bank ownership and proper liquidity support measures. The direct spillover impact on the rest of the euro area seems small. But there is the risk of contagion, which is a serious concern. There is a cautious case for delaying somewhat Plan B in order to prepare for it