Discussion Forum – web event
Thursday, March 23, 2023
17:30-18:45
The European Economy and the prospects for enhanced macroeconomic coordination
Speaker: Pierre Jaillet, Economist, Associate Research Fellow at the Jacques Delors Institute and at the Institute of International Strategic Relations, in Paris, Former Director General Economics and International Relations, Banque de France
Chair: Ioannis Tirkides – Economic Research Manager, Bank of Cyprus, and President of the Cyprus Economic Society
Abstract: The global and European economic outlook is clouded by uncertainty amid an ongoing war in Ukraine, successive supply shocks and an underlying persistent inflation, underpinned by central banks’ monetary tightening to restore price stability. Europe is particularly affected by the war in Ukraine, with a prolonged energy crisis in the midst of ongoing green and digital economic transitions. Europe also faces longer term challenges related to its declining potential growth and increasing economic heterogeneity. This new environment is also forcing a rethink of the institutional architecture and of the economic and financial coordination framework.

Discussion Forum – web event
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
17:30-18:45
An overhaul of the European fiscal framework?
Speaker: Andreas Eisl, Research Fellow on European Economic Policy at the Jacques Delors Institute, Paris
Chair: Ioannis Tirkides – Economic Research Manager, Bank of Cyprus, and President of the Cyprus Economic Society
Abstract: This discussion will focus on the key elements of the European Commission’s recent proposal to reform the European fiscal framework and will raise several issues of particular relevance for the ongoing political negotiations. These will include questions about the actual minimum fiscal consolidation requirements imposed on Member States, the challenges of the new fiscal structural plans for democratic choice, and the potential inadequacy of the incentive structure to ensure sufficient public investment in the face of the climate crisis.

Workshop – hybrid event, web and physical
Thursday, November 17, 2022
17:30-18:45
Risk through the looking glass
Speakers: Savvakis Savvides – Visiting Lecturer, John Deutsch Institute for the Study of Economic Policy, Queen’s University, Canada
Chair: Marios Clerides – Economist, formerly CEO of the Cyprus Cooperative Bank; Group Senior general Manager, Hellenic Bank; Former Executive Chairman, CSEC
Abstract: The question of what is really risk in capital investments is posed and discussed. It suggests that the almost total acceptance of the concept that volatility constitutes a good measure of risk is wrong and leads towards a misallocation of economic resources. It is argued that the Expected Loss of a capital investment project should be used as a measure of risk. It is further illustrated how the risk aversion attitudes of potential investors can be taken into consideration in the decision to invest or not. The pursuit of return without risk inevitably leads to the transfer of wealth through a failing banking system which collaborates with an unregulated financial market who constantly seek low risk and relatively safe returns for the benefit of their wealthy clients. It is further argued that wasteful finance impairs the real economy and inevitably brings about financial crises and economic recessions. The promise of a “return without the risk” leads financial intermediaries in the direction of an elusive quest whereby the only way to attain this is through directing funding towards the capture of existing assets rather than investing in the real economy to create new wealth.