The debt challenge in Europe
Ahearne, Alan, Wolff, Guntram. The euro area faces a double challenge: debt overhang and the need for price adjustment. This paper reviews the debt challenges in the household and corporate sectors and maps out some policy options. In particular, we document the increase in private debt prior to the crisis and consider how the corporate […]
The Austerity Debacle
Krugman, Paul. Last week the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, a British think tank, released a startling chart comparing the current slump with past recessions and recoveries. It turns out that by one important measure — changes in real G.D.P. since the recession began — Britain is doing worse this time than it […]
Eurozone Problems
Krugman, Paul. I’m giving a talk in Paris tomorrow. Here are some slides; they won’t come as a shock to regular readers, but it may be useful to see them all in one place. Πηγή: The New York Times πλήρες κείμενο
Europe’s three-dimensional crisis
Brown, Gordon. In the rush to define Europe’s problems as fiscal, our deep-seated banking and competitiveness problems have been largely ignored. In the search for a simple, one-dimensional answer – austerity and, if that fails, more austerity – to what is a three-dimensional crisis, Europe’s leaders are failing to grasp the profound historical forces now […]
The coming resolution of the European crisis
Bergsten, Rfed, Kirkegaard, Jacob Funk. Policy reactions to the Eurozone crisis are seen by many as short-sighted, incoherent, and driven by political expediency. This column disagrees. What we are seeing is a game of chicken among the key political and economic powers in Europe. As the crash looms ever closer, the right deals will be […]
Hungary’s Monetary Policy Mistakes
One of the most controversial topics in Europe right now is … Hungary’s national bank? Yes, we live in strange times. The Magyar Nemzeti Bank has become a focal point in the fight between the center-right government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the European Union, which says the government has been undermining the […]
How to Create a Depression
Feldstein, Martin. European political leaders may be about to agree to a fiscal plan which, if implemented, could push Europe into a major depression. To understand why, it is useful to compare how European countries responded to downturns in demand before and after they adopted the euro. Πηγή: Project Syndicate πλήρες κείμενο
Behind the ECB’s Wall of Money
Marzinottο, Benedicta. Throughout the crisis period, the European Central Bank’s behavior has been conditioned by the tension between what it can do and what it is allowed to do. The ECB is the only institution in the European Union that is able to provide unlimited funding to governments, but its governing statute prohibits government bailouts. […]
The Euro crisis and the new impossible trinity
Pisani-Ferry, Jean. The search for solutions to the euro crisis is based on a partial diagnosis that overemphasises the lack of enforcement of existing fiscal rules. Europe’s leaders should rather address the euro area’s inherent weaknesses revealed by the crisis. At the core of euro-area vulnerability is an impossible trinity of strict no-monetary financing, bank-sovereign […]
Euro Checkers: Guide to Greek PSI
Forelle, Charles. The negotiations over Greece’s debt restructuring, which continue tomorrow in Athens, are a real head-twister, a six-sided game of Chinese checkers, European-style. Here’s our guide through the strategic thrusts and parries. There are, roughly, six groups with interest in the “PSI” talks, which are going on this week. They are: northern euro-zone governments, […]