The Ideological Crisis of Western Capitalism
Stiglitz, Joseph. Just a few years ago, a powerful ideology – the belief in free and unfettered markets – brought the world to the brink of ruin. Even in its hey-day, from the early 1980’s until 2007, American-style deregulated capitalism brought greater material well-being only to the very richest in the richest country of the […]
The fear of contagion in Europe
Manasse, Paolo & Trigilia, Giulio. Most analysts agree that Greece is insolvent. This column argues that the issue is whether Greece’s troubles are contagious. What to do about Greece? So far, much of the debate has split into two camps: bail-in-ers, the advocates of coercive (but soft) restructuring of Greek debt, and bail-out-ers, those who favour […]
ECB Reaction Functions and the Crisis of 2008
Gerlach, Stefan & Lewis, John. Did the ECB respond quickly enough when the global economy melted down in 2008? The authors of CEPR DP8472 argue that the ECB’s forward-looking conduct of monetary policy prior to the crisis, with an eye constantly on the zero lower bound, allowed it to react with rapid and deep interest rate […]