Macro Policies in Turbulent Times

“Macro Policies in Turbulent Times” – #KKG107 takes a closer look at key issues in monetary and fiscal affairs. Macroeconomically, the recent years have been turbulent times indeed. Both the pandemic as well as the energy crisis brought about new challenges for monetary and fiscal authorities and called for far-reaching answers. The recent surge of consumer price inflation after an extended period very low interest rates a poses a particular challenge. Similarly, fiscal policy has played a major role in cushioning recent macroeconomic shocks. The European fiscal rules – contentious and disputed from the start – have been non-binding since 2020 in line with the “General Escape clause”.
In the meantime, the European Commission has initiated a debate on a reform of the fiscal surveillance framework and intends to restart it by 2024 provided that a consensus on a new set of fiscal rules is found. The 107^th KKG discusses the state of play of the fiscal reform debate in Europe as well as current perspectives on monetary policy, in addition to the most recent economic outlook for the heavyweights of the world economy.