How has the macro-economic imbalances procedure worked in practice to improve the resilience of the euro area?

This paper analyses the effects of the implementation of the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure (MIP) on the macroeconomic performance of countries in the EU and the euro area. We find that the introduction of the MIP led to a decline in current account imbalances and private sector debt and credit flows, but that the overall effects are limited. To strengthen the MIP, we support the introduction of the Budgetary Instrument for Convergence and Competitiveness, i.e. a fund that pays grants, conditional on the implementation progress of economic reforms..