Economic Policy related content 

Country could lose structural funds worth 1.7% of GDP. Hungary stands to lose access to European Union cohesion funds as a penalty for fiscal laxity. The European Commission...

Measures announced after deficit target for 2011 missed; package welcomed by European Commission. The Spanish government announced a package of spending cuts and tax...

Mario Draghi has made a positive impact as head of the European Central Bank, but it may not be enough to save the eurozone. Mario Draghi has scored two – related –...

European Central Bank leaves main interest rate at 1.5%. The European Central Bank (ECB) has kept it main lending rate at 1.50%, despite earlier indications it would...

Post office, ports, telecoms and water companies to be sold. George Papaconstantinou, Greece's finance minister, has announced the sale of stakes in five state-owned Greek...

The markets cannot imagine that the Republicans would be able – or even willing – trigger a catastrophe. John Boehner, the speaker of the United States House of...

Government blames severity of recession as Commission plays down revision of figures. Greece's budget deficit for 2010 was significantly larger than its government had...

Government says economy was hit harder than expected as deficit is revised up to 10.5% of economic output. Greece's budget deficit for 2010 has been revised significantly...

Welfare systems and optimism help to explain the EU-US split in economic policy – and why it will persist. Like brothers in arms united in combat but divided in peace,...

Bank will continue its programme of buying government bonds. The European Central Bank (ECB) has said it will almost double its subscribed capital to cope with credit risk...

The US has been involved in many currency battles, but the spat with China could be the most damaging of all. Modern economic history has been punctuated by diplomatic...

Searching for the roots of trans-atlantic economic policy divergences. In the early 1980s, the infamous Laffer curve, named after Arthur Laffer, a professor of economics at...

Budget cuts will only work if they go hand in hand with demand-led growth. The medicine is unproven, but the patients are in a desperate condition.The European Union is...

Examining the role of politics in central banking. These are uncertain times for the world's central banks, those (usually) government-owned institutions that, in recent...

Commission and IMF back government's proposal to cut spending. The European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank today approved budget plans...

EU's statistical office puts Greek deficit at 13.6% of gross domestic product. The likelihood of Greece seeking financial support from eurozone governments and the...

Paper has stark warnings for Ireland, the UK and Latvia. Governments will have to cut public deficits by raising retirement ages and limiting healthcare costs, according to...

Commission tells France, Greece, Ireland, Spain and the UK to reduce deficit to within 3% of GDP. The European Commission today (24 March) set deadlines for five countries...

The Czech government has announced plans to cut its budget deficit to below 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) next year thanks to a new package of tax reforms narrowly...

Germany's political leaders must be quietly sighing with relief. Had they taken over the EU presidency a year ago they would have had to turn up in Brussels with their tails...