Eu centers proposal submission guidelines

Post-Recession Policy Challenges

Most policy problems today are transnational in nature. These issues do not stay at home; instead, they cross borders. One major Center initiative, therefore, will focus specifically on trans-border policy problems confronting Europe and what these teach the US. This effort will consist, in part, of sponsoring events and research on how the EU is responding to the transnational challenges it faces. To further focus our thematic research, the Center will concentrate on the Post-Recession Policy Challenges not only in terms of fiscal and monetary policies but also on the social impacts of the economic crisis. The kinds of topics the Center will examine include:

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  Monetary and fiscal policy
  
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  Intersections of local and global business practices
  
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  Austerity implementation and deficit reduction measures
  
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  Challenges to corporate/household deleveraging
  
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  Financial sector regulation
  
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  Exchange rate coordination
  
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  Challenge of credit rating across continents
  
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  Role of the investor community in shaping government responses
  

With these activities the Center will seek to increase understanding within Texas and the US of how Europeans define the economic and fiscal problems they face and why they favor some policy responses over others. Where appropriate, these activities will draw on lessons from the American experience that Europeans might find useful in choosing what steps to take—as well as those to avoid.

The Eurozone sovereign debt crisis has spurred Europe to undergo painful austerity measures and government balance sheet fiscal consolidation efforts—policy responses that have largely been lacking in the US. While investors continue to focus on Europe in a negative light, there is in fact much that Europe, led by the European Commission, has done right. Its statistical body—Eurostat—has begun consolidating new accounting standards, and new enforcement mechanisms for Maastricht criteria have been agreed upon. The US, meanwhile, remains politically divided over the issue of deficit reduction and has largely failed to mobilize a response that even remotely mirrors that of the EU. The Center will look to learn from the EU response to the crisis and to inform the domestic debates in the US with a number of conferences and events.

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