My current research focuses on four areas:

1. Financial integration in Europe and its implications for regulation and supervision. As Europe integrates financially, should regulation be co-ordinated on the EU level? Should insurance and bank supervisory agencies be merged?

2. The role of cultural factors in accounting for the spatial pattern of intra-EU migration. Controlling for standard economic determinants, do cultural factors, including values, play a role in explaining the intra-European migration pattern?

3. The costs and benefits of currency boards, in particular as a monetary arrangement for EU accession countries.
Do currency boards, a highly restrictive monetary arrangement, provide a good option for monetary policy in the run-up to eventual EMU membership? What is the global experience with currency boards?


4. The political economy of reform in smaller European economies. What sets apart the (small) number of countries that have sucessfully tackled structural reform (Ireland, Netherlands, Denmark, Slovenia, Spain)?