Nicolas Véron

Financing Europe's Fast Movers

Today, Bruegel published this new Policy Brief, which I co-authored with Thomas Philippon of NYU Stern School of Business. We argue that Europe's financial system, which now serves the needs of large established companies very well, could do a better job at providing adequate financing solutions for newer, emerging companies, especially those with a fast growth potential.

In the last section on policy recommendations, we outline the possible content of a public policy action plan. In our view, orienting Europe's financial system towards emerging-company growth could be a policy objective of the same level of priority as existing EU objectives of financial integration and financial stability.

Download BruegelPolicyBrief_310108.pdf if the above link is not functioning.

Scapegoating Accounting for the Turmoil

In today's column for La Tribune, I debunk the claim - often heard these days in France - that mark-to-market accounting and IFRS more generally are a culprit for the securitization crisis. IFRS are far from perfect, but protecting banks' discretion to hide bad news, and thus lowering the quality of financial information, would be a mistake.

Download Tribune_080121_en.pdf to read the piece in English, and Download Tribune_080121.pdf as originally published in French

Sovereign Funds' Incentives to Behave

In a piece published by the Financial Times Deutschland two days ago, Jakob von Weizsäcker and I argue that most sovereign wealth funds are unlikely to enter any 'non-financial logic' (using their investments as a lever to attain political, non-economic aims) for some time, because the sheer fact of their expected growth is a powerful incentive not to do so. However, optimism should not preclude Western countries from introducing adequate safeguards when really justified, as may be the case in the media sector.

Download FTD_080109.pdf to read the piece in English, and Download FTD_080109.BMP to see it as originally published in German.

Sovereign Funds: Back in Favour

In today's column, I argue that the credit crisis has defused some of the arguments against sovereign wealth funds, as these powerful financial actors serve a useful role of equity-investors-of-last-resort in ailing Western banks. But the newfound favour of SWFs could prove short-lived as the crisis continues to unfold.

Download Tribune_080107.pdf to read the piece in French, and Download Tribune_080107_en.pdf in English.