The Eurozone crisis and its effects on citizens' trust in national parliaments. CEPS Commentary, 8 December 2010

Citing evidence that the levels of net trust in the national parliaments have dropped to -50% in three of the four troubled periphery eurozone countries (Ireland, Spain and Greece), this Commentary warns that the European and national policy-makers’ strategy of the three no’s – no bail-out, no default and no exit –appears to threaten political stability in these countries

Trust and Economic Growth: Conflicting Results between Cross-Sectional and Panel Analysis

This paper examines the relationship between trust and economic growth. With the help of panel data I conclude that economic growth is negatively related to an increase in trust. My result is contrary to works taking a cross section design in which trust is positively related to growth. The relationship is tested in the context of EU countries, OECD countries, transition countries and developing countries. Interpersonal trust and systemic trust is differentiated.Social Capital; Trust; Economic Growth; Panel Analyis

Phase Diagram of Bosons in Two-Color Superlattices from Experimental Parameters

We study the zero-temperature phase diagram of a gas of bosonic 87-Rb atoms in two-color superlattice potentials starting directly from the experimental parameters, such as wavelengths and intensities of the two lasers generating the superlattice. In a first step, we map the experimental setup to a Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian with site-dependent parameters through explicit band-structure calculations. In the second step, we solve the many-body problem using the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) approach and compute observables such as energy gap, condensate fraction, maximum number fluctuations and visibility of interference fringes. We study the phase diagram as function of the laser intensities s_2 and s_1 as control parameters and show that all relevant quantum phases, i.e. superfluid, Mott-insulator, and quasi Bose-glass phase, and the transitions between them can be investigated through a variation of these intensities alone.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Public Support for the Euro

The long-term sustainability of the euro and the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) depends heavily on their ability to attract widespread public support. The support shown for the euro throughout its first two decades has helped to shield it against populist attempts at the national level to dismantle the common currency. It has granted political legitimacy to the presidents of the European Central Bank to do “whatever it takes” whenever a serious crisis has threatened the viability of the euro. Public Support for the Euro is the second of two open-access volumes presenting a selection of the author's essays on Labor Productivity, Monetary Economics, and Political Economy. This second volume brings together eleven of the author's essays, selected with the aim of providing an overview of his research to date on public support for and the economics and political economy of the euro and EMU

Intangible Capital and Growth

For several decades now, advanced economies across the globe have been undergoing a process of rapid transformation towards becoming knowledge economies. It is now widely recognized that intangible capital has been a crucial element in the growth performance of these economies and their firms. The term serves as a useful device for capturing those dimensions of capital that are not tangible in nature but are nevertheless fundamentally important for growth. It encompasses investments in education (human capital) and in informal (social capital) and formal (rule of law) institutions by the public sector and households, as well as investments by businesses aimed at enhancing their knowledge base, such as software, innovative property, and economic competencies. Intangible Capital and Growth is the first of two open-access volumes presenting a selection of the author's essays on Labor Productivity, Monetary Economics, and Political Economy. This first volume brings together eight of the author's essays, selected with the aim of providing an overview of his research to date on intangible capital and growth

Intangible Capital and Growth

For several decades now, advanced economies across the globe have been undergoing a process of rapid transformation towards becoming knowledge economies. It is now widely recognized that intangible capital has been a crucial element in the growth performance of these economies and their firms. The term serves as a useful device for capturing those dimensions of capital that are not tangible in nature but are nevertheless fundamentally important for growth. It encompasses investments in education (human capital) and in informal (social capital) and formal (rule of law) institutions by the public sector and households, as well as investments by businesses aimed at enhancing their knowledge base, such as software, innovative property, and economic competencies. Intangible Capital and Growth is the first of two open-access volumes presenting a selection of the author's essays on Labor Productivity, Monetary Economics, and Political Economy. This first volume brings together eight of the author's essays, selected with the aim of providing an overview of his research to date on intangible capital and growth

Public Support for the Euro

The long-term sustainability of the euro and the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) depends heavily on their ability to attract widespread public support. The support shown for the euro throughout its first two decades has helped to shield it against populist attempts at the national level to dismantle the common currency. It has granted political legitimacy to the presidents of the European Central Bank to do “whatever it takes” whenever a serious crisis has threatened the viability of the euro. Public Support for the Euro is the second of two open-access volumes presenting a selection of the author's essays on Labor Productivity, Monetary Economics, and Political Economy. This second volume brings together eleven of the author's essays, selected with the aim of providing an overview of his research to date on public support for and the economics and political economy of the euro and EMU

Ultracold Bose gases in time-dependent 1D superlattices: response and quasimomentum structure

The response of ultracold atomic Bose gases in time-dependent optical lattices is discussed based on direct simulations of the time-evolution of the many-body state in the framework of the Bose-Hubbard model. We focus on small-amplitude modulations of the lattice potential as implemented in several recent experiment and study different observables in the region of the first resonance in the Mott-insulator phase. In addition to the energy transfer we investigate the quasimomentum structure of the system which is accessible via the matter-wave interference pattern after a prompt release. We identify characteristic correlations between the excitation frequency and the quasimomentum distribution and study their structure in the presence of a superlattice potential.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

The Europe 2020 Strategy: Can it maintain the EU’s competitiveness in the world? CEPS Paperbacks. September 2012

Launched in March 2010 by the European Commission, the Europe 2020 strategy aims at achieving “smart, sustainable and inclusive” growth. This growth is intended to be driven by three sets of engines: knowledge and innovation, a greener and more efficient use of resources and higher employment combined with social and territorial cohesion. This CEPS report takes an in-depth look at the Europe 2020 strategy and the goals it sets for the EU, with the aim of shedding light on the question of whether the strategy will succeed in fostering the global competitiveness of the European Union. While finding that the Europe 2020 strategy identifies the right key indicators for its targets, the authors advise that it should be revised in several important respects and conclude with relevant policy steps to foster the future capability of European economies and their prosperity