Press Releases Chicago Booth unveils new IGM Panel of top european economists

The University of Chicago Booth School of Business Initiative on Global Markets unveiled its new European IGM Economic Experts Panel, in which Europe’s leading economists weigh in on pressing policy debates.

The panel, made up of 50 economists from 27 major universities and business schools, explores the extent to which economists agree or disagree on major public policy issues. The panel is an extension of Chicago Booth’s original IGM Economic Experts Panel created in 2011 and made up of US-based economists.

The goal of the new European IGM Economic Experts Panel is to explore the experts’ views on some of the most important policy questions facing the region—involving issues such as trade, migration, taxes, banks, markets, and competition—and to share these views directly with the public in a simple way.

The new panel is composed of top researchers from across Europe, including former International Monetary Fund Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard; Nobel Laureate Christopher Pissarides; and faculty from Bocconi University, the University of Zurich, the London School of Economics, and Chicago Booth. The Booth faculty members are Veronica Guerrieri, Christian Leuz, Lubos Pastor, and Canice Prendergast.

The panel debuted with six initial topics for its experts ranging from the effects of Brexit on incomes in the United Kingdom and European Union to how migration within Europe has affected the economic well-being of Western Europeans. The results of all six inaugural polls of the European panel are available on the IGM Forum website, which also hosts responses from its US-based panel of experts.

Among the statements on which experts were polled:

• Because of the Brexit vote's outcome, the rest of the EU's real per-capita income level is likely to be lower a decade from now than it would have been otherwise.
• Europe as a whole benefits when European cities or countries compete with each other by giving tax incentives to firms to locate operations in their jurisdictions.
• Freer movement of people to live and work across borders within Europe has made many low-skilled western European citizens worse off since the 1980s.
• Freer movement of goods and services across borders within Europe has made many low-skilled western European citizens worse off since the 1980s
• Giving tax incentives to specific firms to locate operations in a country typically generates domestic benefits that outweigh the costs to the country providing the incentives.

The economic experts panel questions are emailed individually to the members of the panel. Panelists may consult whatever resources they like before answering.

For a full list of questions and responses, visit the IGM Forum.