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Begin New Search Topic Globalization Political Geography Europe Content Type Case Study

1. Anti-fragmentation: an incomplete diagnosis and wrong solution

Author:
Marek Dąbrowski
Publication Date:
03-2023
Content Type:
Case Study
Institution:
Center for Social and Economic Research - CASE
Abstract:
A study by Marek Dąbrowski (CASE) entitled “Anti-fragmentation: an incomplete diagnosis and wrong solution”, requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), was published in the Monetary Dialogue Papers series in September 2022. Since the 1990s, the public debt-to-GDP ratio has gradually increased in almost all current euro area member countries. In most of them, it now exceeds the Maastricht reference value of 60%, in several of them – 100%, and in a few cases – even more. It creates a severe challenge to the stability of public finances, the entire financial system and monetary stability in the euro area being also the primary cause of the so-called fragmentation. The study begins with an analysis of the excessive public debt in the euro area. An overview of the fiscal stance in the euro area as a whole and, separately, in individual Member States from 1997 to 2021 is complemented with the analysis of mechanisms of fiscal discipline – again on the EU/euro area level and the national level separately. Three causes of the ineffectiveness of these mechanisms are then identified: (1) political economy factors at the national level; (2) political economy factors at the European level; and (3) fallacies of economic science. The next part concerns ECB involvement in the sovereign debt market in the euro area. A historical analysis is conducted starting from the period of the EFC (2010–2015) to quantitative easing of 2014-2022. Two important periods from recent history are detailed - additional quantitative easing of the pandemic era (2020–2022) and the turn towards monetary policy tightening in 2022. In the last part of the study, the author argues that the problem of “fragmentation” is wrongly formulated. It is a secondary symptom of the excessive sovereign indebtedness in some euro area economies. It should be remedied by fiscal policy measures (fiscal consolidation) rather than by the ECB’s quasi-fiscal activities. The latter is not consistent with its legal status, compromises its independence (and credibility of the euro), and undermines its ability to deliver on its price stability mandate. When a targeted market intervention is necessary, it should be provided by the European Stability Mechanism, the institution created for this purpose in 2012, instead of the ECB.
Topic:
Globalization, European Union, Finance, Trade, and Economic Integration
Political Geography:
Europe

2. Global value chains: Potential synergies between external trade policy and internal economic initiatives to address the strategic dependencies of the EU

Author:
Agnieszka Skowronek and Jan Hagemejer
Publication Date:
03-2023
Content Type:
Case Study
Institution:
Center for Social and Economic Research - CASE
Abstract:
Global value chains enable two-thirds of international trade, notably for the EU. The EU wants to preserve its commercial links with third countries and organisations to make up for trade disruptions. This study examines sustainable supply of raw materials, commodities, and critical goods using the EU's Open Strategic Autonomy concept. It examines which raw material are crucial for sustainable supply and necessary for the green transition. The paper examines EU internal legislation and international cooperation instruments to determine the EU's disruption risk. It evaluates the economic impact of EU preferential trade agreements on raw material availability. The study illustrates the political and economic relevance of raw material partnerships and plurilateral and bilateral trade agreements. It analyses the EU's toolbox for safeguarding its interests and making independent trade choices to counteract other actors' unfair practices and intervention. Finally, the paper examines regulatory frameworks, international alliances, and activities to find ways to strengthen global value chains in critical EU industries.
Topic:
Globalization, European Union, Trade, Global Value Chains, and Economic Integration
Political Geography:
Europe

3. From India to Europe: The Production of the Kashmir Shawl and the Spread of the Paisley Motif

Author:
Ben Skarratt, Scarlett Mansfield, and Christopher McKenna
Publication Date:
08-2018
Content Type:
Case Study
Institution:
Oxford Centre for Global History
Abstract:
In the second half of the eighteenth century, a new garment entered European fashion. Noted for being exceptionally soft, warm, and light, it bore intricate patterns unlike anything Europeans had encountered before or had produced domestically. This product, a woollen shawl, originated in a region that would become so famous for its textiles that its name would pass into Western lexicons as a toponym for its woollen produce: Kashmir. The principal motif found on these shawls, known in India as the Buta, or kairi, would come to be called, in its altered form, Paisley in the West. Not only was the garment practical and aesthetically pleasing, its oriental origins, clear status as a luxury item, texture, and patterning enabled it to permeate European high fashion. Patronage by Empress Josephine of France, and later Queen Victoria, solidified this popularity. By the turn of the nineteenth century, Kashmir and the West regularly traded these textiles. A European industry, aimed at copying Indian originals, also thrived. The next six decades witnessed fervent European consumption of the shawl. This rapid consumption resulted in a host of changes to the production and designs of the garments. While the history of the shawl and its relationship to the West has been subject to distortion, hyperbole, and fiction, recent scholarship has made considerable headway in demystifying information about these products. It is now possible to relate how the Kashmir shawl first came into production, its emergence onto the world stage as a luxury textile, and its status as the principal medium by which the Buta/ Paisley motif entered into the pantheon of historic fashion designs.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, Capitalism, and Commodities
Political Geography:
Europe and India