Do Simulations Enhance Decision-Making in the EU Financial Services?

Abstract

Capital markets union (CMU) is focused on removing long-standing obstacles from the free movement in capital across borders, as well as improving national capital markets. Many of these obstacles are grounded in the different domestic market structures that have developed over centuries. Even their partial removal is a worthy task for any policymaker. The Konrad Adenauer Foundation and Standard Chartered Bank co-organised a simulation game in which they brought together 55 industry representatives with EU and national policymakers to develop and test specific solutions to these age-old barriers. A report with the proposed long and short list of solutions was submitted to the European Commission’s consultation on the CMU. The rules of the game were devised to simulate a real-life policy debate while keeping the game competitive and playable. Players were experts from EU institutions, national governments, NGOs, trade associations and banks. Policy and political simulations took place at the same time. The major objective of the simulation was to enhance the overall knowledge of the CMU as a policy issue and to test whether simulations enhance decision-making in the EU Financial Services. This chapter describes the background to the simulation and a literature review, and the next sections deal with the CMU simulation and the CMU gameflow. The next sections summarise the policy simulation outcomes, provide an explanation of the CMU political simulation and give an overview of the valuable takeaways of the simulation exercise.