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Elsa Clara Massoc
Title
Prof. Ph.D.
Last Name
Massoc
First name
Elsa Clara
Email
elsaclara.massoc@unisg.ch
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1 - 10 of 15
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PublicationTwo degrees versus two percent How central bankers and members of the European Parliament developed a common pro-climate narrative( 2024-02-14)The new ECB leadership made it its explicit priority to make ECB’s policies greener. Although doubt remains about the scale and effectiveness of the policies implemented since then, the idea that the ECB has a role to play in the fight against climate change has become widely accepted. The main narrative in support of this idea states that the ECB’s pro-climate engagement is part of its primary mandate – price stability. However, until not long ago, ECB’s primary mandate was rather used by those opposing the greening of central banking, while it was largely ignored by pro-climate advocates. How has this narrative emerged and gained traction? This paper argues that this narrative results from a process of coalition-building between pro-climate central bankers and pro-climate politicians in the European Parliament. Building on a multi-method text analysis of original datasets of accountability communications as well as in-depth interviews, this paper documents the mechanisms through which pro-climate central bankers and pro-climate MEPs co-constructed the pro-climate narrative, using accountability relationships as a coalition-building arena. The paper contributes to ongoing discussions on central banks’ accountability, politicisation and role in the green transition.Type: journal articleJournal: Journal of European Public Policy
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PublicationA tale of dualization: accounting for the partial marketization of regulated savings in FranceAs in other countries, regulated savings in France are intricately woven into dense regulatory frameworks driven by explicit governmental objectives. The anticipated marketization of the French economy should have eradicated them; however, a substantial portion of regulated savings has managed to evade this process. Is this phenomenon attributable to the tenacious grip of the French state-led tradition? Not entirely, as another subset of these savings has indeed undergone marketization. The landscape of French regulated savings is notably distinguished by a growing dichotomy: on one side, non-marketized products offered by banks, and on the other, increasingly marketized products provided by insurers. Drawing upon process tracing, we contend that these ostensibly conflicting developments emanate from the distinct and precise institutional dependencies between state and private actors in which these products are enmeshed. The prevailing status quo within the banking sector is owed to banks’ engagement in a mutually advantageous, long-term exchange of favors with state actors. Faced with the trade-off between offering less lucrative products and risking the endangerment of this relationship, banks have opted for the former. In contrast, an assertive strategy has gained traction in the insurance industry. Yet, strategies for the marketization of regulated savings aligned with state priorities have been implemented, even when insurers expressed opposition.Type: journal articleJournal: Review of International Political Economy
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PublicationType: journal articleJournal: Politics and Society
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PublicationType: journal articleJournal: Journal of European Public Policy
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PublicationType: journal articleJournal: Positive Money Europe
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PublicationType: journal articleJournal: Positive Money Europe
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Publication“New industrial policy”: Power... and purpose! How are political priorities set up in state-led investment?( 2024-06-29)The urgent need for massive investment in the green transition has brought the State back into the spotlight - as “pure” market mechanisms appear to be unable to meet the challenge. Debates about the most appropriate role for the state and the most effective instruments that state actors should use to channel investment towards the green transition have been renewed. These debates are extremely important. However, this paper points to a widely overlooked issue: whatever the types of instruments for state-led investment implemented, if the objectives are ill-designed, investment won’t go to the green transition. This paper thus tackles the following question: how are political priorities determined between competing objectives in state-led investment programs? The paper seeks to answer this question in three steps. First, it shows that state-led investment has increased dramatically for the last two decades and includes a wide varieties of instruments corresponding to different typical roles of the state. Second, it develops a typology of political priorities for state-led investment under the three categories of financial anaesthesia, industrial policy and green transition. Third, it shows that the choices between competing objectives of state-led investment are not determined by the types of instruments implemented but are largely associated with the governing regime leading to the establishment of state-led investment programs. When Ministries are in charge (they mostly are), financial anaesthesia and industrial policy are prioritzed. When outsiders (parliaments, activists…) are involved, more likely to prioritize (attempts at) transformative green finance. To do so, the paper builds on an original database of state-led investment programs in France since 2010 as well as on a comparative case studies of the policymaking processes leading to two state-led investment programs in France.Type: conference paper
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PublicationThe political economy of (global) banking and the limits of growth model theory( 2024-07-04)Mareike BeckDespite numerous regulatory measures aimed at reducing the size, complexity, and power of these financial institutions, European global banks remain as large—or even larger—than in 2008, and as interconnected as before. This contradiction raises the question: what explains the evolution of European banking since the crisis? By analyzing the interplay between state power and global banking, the paper argues that the evolution of European banks has been driven by political priorities aimed at maintaining their position within the global financial hierarchy, rather than adhering to national growth models. The paper then highlights the structural contradictions faced by European banks due to the extroverted nature of their process of financialization, which have resulted in their inability to compete equally with US banks and their struggles to fulfill traditional domestic banking functions. The notion of (S)tra(te)gic banking developped in this paper thus encompasses the state-supported strategy of European banks seeking power at the global level while maintaining traditional banking functions at the domestic level, and the structural contradictions that has led to their tragic failures in both.Type: conference paper
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PublicationIndebted societies credit and welfare in rich democracies. By Andreas Wiedemann, Cambridge University Press( 2023-03-14)For its many qualities, there is one main weakness in the book that I would like to discuss in this review. This weakness lies in how the author characterizes “credit regimes” and the way in which the structures of the domestic financial system shape people's access to credit. To explain the level of credit permissiveness in a given political economy, Wiedemann builds on the dichot- omy between market-based and bank-based financial systems and conceives credit allocation between either households or businesses as a zero-sum game. This dichotomy is no longer accu- rate to depict contemporary financial systems in advanced political economies, and thus fails to identify the workings and determinants of credit creation and allocation. I will develop this point below.Type: book reviewJournal: Governance