On October 2, Mikheil Saakashvili – who has led the “Rose Revolution” in Georgia in 2003 and has been president since 2004 – admitted defeat of his party in Georgia's parliamentary election against Bidzina Ivanishvili.

The banking reforms that took place in India in the mid 90s have improved the availability of credit. However, the effects of financial development on firms’ growth appear to be unequal depending on their characteristics. Where are the gains from credit expansion concentrated?

On 12 of September, the European Commission (EC) has unveiled its proposal that shifts banking supervision to the European level, giving sweeping supervisory powers to the ECB. 

The Lettre du CEPII No. 324 shows that internal devaluation strategies in Latvia and in Ireland produced only limited adjustments at the price of considerable social costs.

An international organization (uniquely) in charge of managing international migration flows is missing. However recent Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) include migration related provisions able to manage migration flows. Further, the signature of a PTA itself boosts bilateral migration flows.

On Thursday July 5th the ECB decided to cut its main refinancing rate to 0.75%, for the first time crossing the historical low of 1%. More importantly, it reduced the overnight deposit facility rate to 0%. In doing so, the ECB encouraged banks to transform the liquidity received via two 3-year LTROs into credit to companies and households, instead of keeping it at the ECB deposit facility.

Although it is not advertised on its website, the Paris branch of the Bank of China is now offering its customers residing in France to open an account in Renminbi (RMB), the Chinese currency. This is a modest but symbolic advance of the big maneuvers that have taken place for the past two years around the currency of the second world economy.

The Eurozone is facing three intertwined and mutually reinforcing crises: a sovereign debt glut, banks’ financial fragility and dampened growth prospects. Further fiscal and political integration seems to be the only way to address these issues.

Commodity markets have recently been at the center of the world economic concerns: their increasing prices and high volatility frighten. A special issue of International Economics focuses on explaining the recent developments on commodity markets.

The slow progress of regional integration efforts in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region could be explained by the reluctance of resource-rich countries to deepen trade agreements which hurt them.