IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/liu/liucej/v9y2012i2p179-195.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Sovereign Debt Crisis in Europe, Save Banks Not States

Author

Listed:
  • Hans-Bernd Schäfer

Abstract

The European central bank is a bank of banks but not a bank of states. This reduces the capabilities of member states to finance deficits. The role of the central bank to cope with the debt crises is institutionally more limited than in most other Western countries. The European Stability Mechanism has not enough financial power to bail out all distressed countries in the Eurozone. Eurobonds could increase lending capacities but would require a change of the European treaty, which is not in sight. They violate the no bail out clause of Art.125 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The policy option is therefore debt restructuring of distressed countries and a bailout of financial institutions to avoid conflagration. This option would also shift some of the burden to creditors outside the Eurozone rather than to shift all risk on the people in solvent countries within the Eurozone.

Suggested Citation

  • Hans-Bernd Schäfer, 2012. "The Sovereign Debt Crisis in Europe, Save Banks Not States," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 9(2), pages 179-195, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:liu:liucej:v:9:y:2012:i:2:p:179-195
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ejce.liuc.it/18242979201202/182429792012090201.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marco Buti & Sylvester Eijffinger & Daniele Franco, 2003. "Revisiting the Stability and Growth Pact: grand design or internal adjustment?," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 180, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    2. Hans‐Werner Sinn, 2006. "The Pathological Export Boom and the Bazaar Effect: How to Solve the German Puzzle," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(9), pages 1157-1175, September.
    3. Jakob De Haan & Helge Berger & David‐Jan Jansen, 2004. "Why has the Stability and Growth Pact Failed?," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(2), pages 235-260, July.
    4. Keuschnigg, Christian, 2012. "Welche Finanz- und Wirtschaftspolitik braucht Europa?," Economics Working Paper Series 1201, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Simplice A. Asongu, Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2021. "Taxation, foreign aid and political governance in Africa," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 18(2), pages 217-249, December.
    2. Basu Kaushik, 2016. "The Economics and Law of Sovereign Debt and Risk Sharing: Some Lessons from the Eurozone Crisis," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(3), pages 495-506, November.
    3. Schäfer Hans-Bernd & Bigus Jochen, 2016. "Consequences of Different Eurobond Proposals," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(3), pages 523-553, November.
    4. I. Bukina S. & И. Букина С., 2018. "Политика Финансовой Консолидации И Развитие Экономики В Условиях Внешних Шоков // The Policy Of Financial Consolidation And Economic Development In The Face Of External Shocks," Финансы: теория и практика/Finance: Theory and Practice // Finance: Theory and Practice, ФГОБУВО Финансовый университет при Правительстве Российской Федерации // Financial University under The Government of Russian Federation, vol. 22(1), pages 6-21.
    5. Simplice A. Asongu, 2014. "Taxation, foreign aid and political governance: figures to the facts of a celebrated literature," Research Africa Network Working Papers 14/022, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    6. Enrico Marelli & Marcello Signorelli, 2015. "Convergence, Crisis and Unemployment in Europe: The Need for Innovative Policies," Croatian Economic Survey, The Institute of Economics, Zagreb, vol. 17(2), pages 5-56, December.
    7. Basu, Kaushik, 2014. "Fiscal policy as an instrument of investment and growth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6850, The World Bank.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jakob de Haan & Niels D. Gilbert & Jeroen Hessel & Silvie Verkaart, 2013. "How to Enforce Fiscal Discipline in EMU: A Proposal," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 149(II), pages 205-217, June.
    2. Truger, Achim & Hein, Eckhard, 2004. "Macroeconomic co-ordination as an economic policy concept : opportunities and obstacles in the EMU," WSI Working Papers 125, The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Hans Böckler Foundation.
    3. Pierre Richard Agénor & Devrim Yilmaz, 2006. "The Tyranny of Rules: Fiscal Discipline, Productive Spending, and Growth," Economics Discussion Paper Series 0616, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    4. Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, 2014. "What Should Surplus Germany Do?," Policy Briefs PB14-14, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    5. Naudé, Wim & Nagler, Paula, 2022. "The Ossified Economy: The Case of Germany, 1870-2020," IZA Discussion Papers 15607, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Muscatelli, Vito A. & Natale, Piergiovanna & Tirelli, Patrizio, 2012. "A simple and flexible alternative to Stability and Growth Pact deficit ceilings. Is it at hand?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 14-26.
    7. Lionel Fontagné & Sophie Hatte, 2013. "European High-End Products in International Competition," PSE - G-MOND WORKING PAPERS hal-00959394, HAL.
    8. Jacques Pelkmans, 2006. "Testing for Subsidiarity," Bruges European Economic Policy Briefings 13, European Economic Studies Department, College of Europe.
    9. Los, Bart & Timmer, Marcel & Vries, Gaaitzen J. de, 2013. "Made in Europe? Trends in International Production Fragmentation," GGDC Research Memorandum GD-131, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen.
    10. Martin Larch & João Nogueira Martins, 2007. "Fiscal indicators - Proceedings of the the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs Workshop held on 22 September 2006 in Brussels," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 297, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    11. Herzog, Bodo, 2006. "Coordination of fiscal and monetary policy in CIS-countries: A theory of optimum fiscal area?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 256-274, June.
    12. Jakob de Haan & Helge Berger & David-Jan Jansen & Jakob de Haan, 2003. "The End of the Stability and Growth Pact?," CESifo Working Paper Series 1093, CESifo.
    13. Fernando C. Ballabriga & Carlos Martinez-Mongay, 2005. "Sustainability of EU public finances," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 225, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    14. João Amador & Sónia Cabral, 2017. "Networks of Value-added Trade," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(7), pages 1291-1313, July.
    15. Nora Albu & Heike Joebges & Rudolf Zwiener, 2018. "Increasing competitiveness at any price?," IMK Working Paper 192-2018, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    16. Henryk Gurgul & Lukasz Lach, 2016. "Comparative advantage of the EU in global value chains: How important and efficient are new EU members in transition?," Managerial Economics, AGH University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Management, vol. 17(1), pages 21-58.
    17. Szapáry, György & Orbán, Gábor, 2004. "A stabilitási és növekedési paktum az új tagállamok szemszögéből [The Stabilization and Growth Pact in the light of the new EU member-states]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(9), pages 810-831.
    18. Baerg, Nicole Rae & Hallerberg, Mark, 2014. "Rule Bending in International Organizations: Explaining Instability in the Stability and Growth Pact," MPRA Paper 18084, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Fabian Bornhorst & Mr. Ashoka Mody, 2012. "Tests of German Resilience," IMF Working Papers 2012/239, International Monetary Fund.
    20. Hans-Michael Trautwein & Finn Marten Körner, 2014. "German Economic Models, Transnationalization and European Imbalances," ZenTra Working Papers in Transnational Studies 28 / 2014, ZenTra - Center for Transnational Studies, revised Jan 2014.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Euro; European debt crisis; European Central Bank; European Stability Mechanism; Debt restructuring; Sovereign insolvency; no bail out clause; Eurobonds;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • K33 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - International Law

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:liu:liucej:v:9:y:2012:i:2:p:179-195. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Piero Cavaleri (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/liuccit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.