Is Europe ready for the next crisis?

Christian Odendahl, a Berlin-based economist at the Centre for European Reform, says that because the tools, both fiscal and monetary, currently being used are limited, it’s time to invent new ones. He suggests, for example, that the central bank break free of its lone and strict mandate—an inflation target at “below but close to 2%—and deliberately overshoot, which would legitimize even more monetary stimulus. Considering the risks, he adds, Europe should fight the possible downturn “early and aggressively” if it doesn’t want to suffer political damage.