economy

Six years in Spain mean six years of falling real estate prices. If you invested in the average Spanish house in 2008, today you have 35% loss on your investment.

Some steps of the Czech government, leaded by social democrat Bohuslav Sobotka, are strange. It is like to paint a house with white color, and then repaint it with black to secure it is not too white.

Clueless looks of politicians will be once again drawn to the ECB. In addition to reports on starting recession, they are supported also by the legend of deflationary spiral that regularly emerges from monetary depths to destroy the shoots of economic success.

Roma people are often referred to as the abusers of social system who create a significant burden on public finance. As a consequence, limiting social benefits to Roma is often proposed by many as a solution for public deficits.

On June 21, BNB announced that it will fulfill its mission at CCB within a month, by July 21. By then it promises that CCB will have either a new ownership structure or a strategic investor, or else be taken by the only state-owned Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB, with about 1% market share).

Here we go again, straight into the old debate as to from what the poor benefit more: growth or redistribution. It has been rekindled by the near simultaneous appearance of two books written by Indian economists.

The EU is no longer the abstraction it was in the beginning of the crisis. For many Europeans the crisis turned the Euro from a convenience into an issue, the Greek – from exotic and hospitable people into lazy parasites, and the English – from key allies into awkward partners.

In Ukraine, the main channel of the impact of remittances on GDP is consumption. The scope of impact depends on two factors - the marginal propensity to save and the propensity to purchase imported goods and services.

During the global financial crisis, public pensions in Lithuania were cut to reduce further strain on the government budget. The Lithuanian government is now considering backpaying these pensions.

Many people, both in the West and in the former socialist countries, display an attitude which I call—somewhat pointedly—“a mentality of Soviet official”. It is a generalized belief: “whatever problem there exists, only the state can solve it.” The state is perceived as a deity, i.e. an omniscient and benevolent being with unlimited resources.