As is well-known, longevity increases throughout the world. This is mainly due to the advance of medical technology, which also includes prescription drugs. Now, this is an interesting category from an economic point of view. Given that drugs can make the difference between alive or dead or, somewhat less extreme, a life without too much
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Ethiopia, El Niño-influenced drought continues to affect millions of people, deepening food insecurity, malnutrition and water shortages in affected areas. [..] It is projected that in 2016, 2.2 million children under age 5 and pregnant/breastfeeding mothers will be moderately malnourished and 450,000 children will be severely malnourished (UN-OCHA, 13 April 2016). A major problem of
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The world is changing. After the financial crisis of 2007/2008, economic growth was supposed to recover, but it did not. Central banks all over the world cut interest rates sharply to just above zero percent. It did not help either. Then, quantitative easing was invented: if the standard recipe does not work, why not try
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Economic growth does not get into gear yet. Declining prices for oil and materials have hindered economic growth. Consequently, official forecasters have reduced their growth expectations for the current year. Parallel to this, inflationary expectations tilted downwards. Eurostat even reported a deflation of 0.2 percent in the month of February. Mario Draghi, the President of
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We thought the crisis was fading out. We thought we had suppressed a financial crisis, a global economic crisis, a debt crisis and a Eurozone crisis. After all, economic growth rates were starting to increase, world trade starting to recover and unemployment rates starting to fall. But November 2013 Lawrence Summers made it very clear
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Why not think about robotics? The topic is hot (witness these five recent studies: ). It is also the time of the year to look ahead. And, probably the most compelling reason, the topic is fascinating, multifaceted and potentially revolutionary, not only by adding things that yet don’t exist, but also by changing various aspects
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Have the Eurozone’s fiscal policies failed? Have they been fooled by models that were out of date? The recent note by researchers Möhlmann and Suyker is only two and a half page long. Still, it got a lot of attention in the Dutch newspapers. Why? Let us go back to 2013. The economic crisis in
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  446 million euro. That is what the Netherlands has to pay extra to the European Union because Dutch Gross Domestic Product (GDP) turned out to be higher than earlier estimated. This is the consequence of a clear and fair rule. Every EU country finances the EU budget with an amount that is proportional with
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Just when it seemed the debate on pensions would never end.. This summer, the secretary of state Klijnsma unfolded her plans regarding the future of the Dutch pension scheme to the Second . With a clear sketch of the adjustments to the current pension scheme and the contours of the new scheme. More transparency, more
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What can one add to the Grexit discussion? Little to none, it seems, given the numerous and varying comments of experts and opinion leaders on the possible of Greece from the Eurozone. Well, there may be one thing. A Grexit will imply serious economic damage, to Greece and to other countries, but will also have
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The debate about Dutch pensions has taken a new route. A few years ago the debate centred around the question whether workers of retirees should pay for the shocks that are inherent to a funded system. Now the big question is how to introduce more freedom of choice without sacrificing solidarity. Freedom of choice is
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Ask someone what should be the number one question of macroeconomics. Chances are high that the answer concerns economic growth: what causes economic growth, can government policies adjust it, and can we count on it staying with us for, say, the next hundred years? But, quite surprisingly, economic science has not been able thus far
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Which temperature would characterise best current interest rates? Certainly not one that feels as comfortably warm. Current interest rates are so low that one would not expect people to put any money on their saving accounts. Probably, it is the low transaction costs due to the ICT revolution or something like that which explains why
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The homo economicus cannot be cheated. The fictive person that economic science gave birth to is averse to illusions. Instead, for each decision to make the homo economicus weighs all alternative options and selects without exception that option that is considered the best. Which of course does not mean it is also the best choice
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There was a time that ‘Europe’ occupied a little spot in the middle of the newspapers. How this has changed in the last few decades! Now, ‘Europe’ is almost everywhere. Whether it is monetary policies, public debt policies or trade policies, Europe is involved. Even economic growth is nowadays considered to be a European rather
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