The European Union is in a tricky place at the moment, as it grapples with the fallout from last year’s Brexit vote and the rise of populism across Europe.  So where does the EU go from here?

That was just one of the questions at Quo Vadis? Identity, Policy and the Future of the European Union, a recent discussion forum hosted by the Centre for Banking Research at Cass Business School, in conjunction with the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).

Post-crisis 'socio-economic policy'

The event also launched Quo Vadis? Identity, Policy and the Future of the European Union, an ebook focusing on the post-crisis ‘socio-economic policy’ identity of the European Union in the post-crisis period.

Chaired by Professor Barbara Casu, Director, Centre for Banking Research, the forum heard presentations from Professor Thorsten Beck, Cass and CEPR; Associate Professor Dennis Novy, Warwick University and CEPR; Jens Larsen, Wellington Management and Advisory Board Member, Cass Centre for Banking Research; and Professor Geoffrey Underhill, University of Amsterdam.

Speaking about the ebook, co-editor Professor Thorsten Beck said it presented a range of ideas and policy solutions to the dilemmas that EU policymakers currently face.

“The emphasis is not on where the EU has come from but where it appears to be going, where it should be going and what sorts of difficulties this might imply for the success of the EU and its various major policy domains. This is perhaps best understood by focusing on the EU’s economic policy ‘identity markers’ prior to the crisis and what has emerged in the aftermath,” he said.

The ebook is edited by Professor Beck and Professor Underhill and includes contributions from leading European and American economists and political scientists, including Diane Coyle, Sergei Guriev, Kevin O’Rourke, and Charles Wyplosz.

Handbook on European Banking

Professor Barbara Casu and Professor Beck also edited the recently published the Palgrave Handbook of European Banking.  The Handbook presents a timely collection of original studies on relevant themes, policies and developments in European banking. Its contributors analyse how the recent crisis years have had a long lasting impact on the structure of European banking and explore the regulatory architecture that has started to take form in their wake.