New ECB Executive Board Member: Benoit Coeure

Lorenzo Bini Smaghi is set to be replaced by the very-smart Benoit Coeure of the French Treasury – his website is here.

Germany is the real winner in a transfer union

So Sebastian Mallaby writes in this FT article.

Sovereign debt, government myopia, and the financial sector

Viral Acharya and Raghu Rajan provide an explanation as to why sovereign defaults are rare events in this VOXEU article.

Sovereign Risk and Banking Crises

Ashoka Mody and Damiano Sandri summarise their recent paper for the Economic Policy panel in this VOXEU article.

IFAC: Oireachtas Committee Hearing

The members of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council were in front of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform last week – the transcript is here.