Publications
Thinking the Unthinkable: Lessons of Past Sovereign Debt Restructurings
03 May 2011
The Lisbon Council launches Thinking the Unthinkable: Lessons of Past Sovereign Debt Restructurings, a new e-brief by Alessandro Leipold, chief economist of the Lisbon Council and former acting director of the European Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Drawing on his decades of experience at the centre of financial crisis prevention and management, Mr. Leipold argues that European debt resolution requires a much more forward-leaning, information-driven approach, involving supplying markets with better, more timely information (including tougher banking stress tests), abandoning untenable timelines (such as the “no-restructurings-before-2013” mantra), and staying ahead of the game via recourse to tools such as pre-emptive bond exchange offers, which were successfully deployed by Pakistan, Ukraine, Uruguay and the Dominican Republic in the last bout of severe debt crises of the early 2000s. He draws five key lessons from past sovereign debt restructurings.
e-brief 11/2011An Action Plan for Europe 2020: Strategic Advice for the Post-Crisis World
15 March 2011
In the presence of European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and in the week prior to the spring European Council, the Lisbon Council launched An Action Plan for Europe 2020: Strategic Advice for the Post-Crisis World. In this timely report, top European thought leaders reflect on the challenges ahead, and offer strategic advice for reaching Europe's key targets and goals. Wim Kok, former prime minister of the Netherlands and author of the 2005 Mid-Term Review of the Lisbon Agenda (known as the Kok Report), contributed the Foreword.
Policy Brief Vol. V, No. 2 (2011)Human Capital Leading Indicators: How Europe's Regions and Cities Can Drive Growth and Foster Social Inclusion
28 February 2011
The ground-breaking study Human Capital Leading Indicators: How Europe's Regions and Cities Can Drive Growth and Foster Social Inclusion is the result of a year-long research project, staffed by a team of 11 social scientists and co-funded by PROGRESS – European Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity (2007-2013). The team conducted in-depth case studies of seven European cities and regions - Bratislava, Emilia-Romagna, Helsinki, Navarra, Sofia, Stockholm and West Midlands - evaluating their human-capital endowment, utilisation and productivity. The study was launched at a high-level roundtable which featured, inter alia, László Andor, European commissioner for employment, social affairs and inclusion, Dirk Ahner, director-general at DG Regional Affairs and Xavier Prats-Monné, deputy-director general of DG Education and Culture.
Policy Brief, Vol. V, No. 1 (2011)Climate, Energy and Competitiveness: An Eight-Point Programme
02 February 2011
On the eve of the European Council on energy and innovation policy, Jules Kortenhorst, CEO of the European Climate Foundation and co-chair of the Lisbon Council's Eco-Innovators Network, issues a far-reaching Eight-Point Programme for addressing the challenge of climate change and raising Europe's competitiveness in a key 21st century economic battlefield. “European leaders must work to understand the changing nature of climate and energy policies - and the opportunity that this shift provides,” Mr. Kortenhorst writes, adding “Concerted action taken at the February European Council can give Europe the lead in the 21st centuries' main fields of competition.”
e-brief 10/2011The 2010 Euro Monitor: Indicators for Balanced Growth
26 October 2010
Together with Allianz SE, a leading global financial services provider, the Lisbon Council launched The 2010 Euro Monitor: Indicators for Balanced Growth, a new study which introduces a macroeconomic monitoring and early-warning system aimed at ensuring balanced growth in the euro area. Prof. Dr. Michael Heise, chief economist of Allianz and former secretary general of the German “wisemen” serves as principal author. The Euro Monitor evaluates and ranks eurozone countries’ comparative strengths in fiscal sustainability; competitiveness and domestic demands; jobs productivity and resource efficiency; and private and foreign debt. The 16 countries of the eurozone need to urgently increase their efforts to underpin the credibility and stability of their common currency over time, concludes the new report.
Beyond CAP: Why the EU Budget Needs Reform
04 October 2010
In a new e-brief, Philippe Legrain, senior fellow for economics at the Lisbon Council and author of Aftershock: Reshaping the World Economy after the Crisis, looks at the challenges of retooling the European Union budget to meet 21st century demands and calls on European leaders to introduce "root and branch reform" to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
e-brief 09/2010Good Governance for the Euro Area: Proposals for Economic Stability
16 September 2010
On the eve of the European Council informal meeting, Alessandro Leipold, economic adviser to the Lisbon Council and former acting director of the IMF’s European Department, surveys the debate on economic governance in the European Union and offers a “nine-step programme” for strengthening European economic coordination. “No less than the future of the euro itself hangs in the balance,” Mr. Leipold writes, adding “the process whereby these various proposals will be sifted through and finalised for consideration by the European Union heads of State and Government is unpromising.”
e-brief 08/2010If Not Now, Then When? Using Europe 2020 to Restore Confidence and Growth
16 June 2010
Written by Executive Director Ann Mettler, this e-brief lays out how the Europe 2020 strategy can be used to move from immediate crisis management to restoring confidence and growth. The overriding priority now must be to change the narrative and demonstrate that Europe and the member states can pro-actively shape and develop medium- and long-term policy agendas rather than only formulate rushed and defensive responses in reaction to previous shortcomings.
e-brief 07/2010Preventing Greek Tragedy from Becoming a Eurozone Disaster
27 April 2010
In the middle of the Greek financial crisis, the Lisbon Council launches a new e-brief entitled Preventing Greek Tragedy from Becoming a Eurozone Disaster: Lessons from IMF Crisis Lending – and the Challenges Ahead. The author, Alessandro Leipold, economic adviser to the Lisbon Council and a former acting director of the European Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), explains how the Greek crisis could be managed much more effectively.
e-brief 06/2010Wikinomics and the Era of Openness: European Innovation at a Crossroads
05 March 2010
A timely contribution to the Europe 2020 strategy, this e-brief explores the changing nature of innovation, towards more open, collaborative and inter-disciplinary systems. Entitled Wikinomics and the Era of Openness: European Innovation at a Crossroads, the study demonstrates how Europe can benefit from participating in a global movement to share knowledge, raise creativity and encourage social innovation. The author is Anthony D. Williams, co-author of the international bestseller Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, who also serves as senior fellow at the Lisbon Council.
e-brief 05/2010
