Europe’s Misguided Search for Growth
Gros, Daniel. A few months ago, 25 of the 27 members of the European Union solemnly signed a treaty that committed them to enshrining tough deficit limits in their national constitutions. This so-called “fiscal compact” was the key condition to get Germany to agree to increase substantially the funding for the eurozone’s rescue funds, and […]
Plutocracy, Paralysis, Perplexity
Krugman, Paul. Before the Great Recession, I would sometimes give public lectures in which I would talk about rising inequality, making the point that the concentration of income at the top had reached levels not seen since 1929. Often, someone in the audience would ask whether this meant that another depression was imminent. Πηγή: The […]
Ideas over Interests
Rodrik, Dani. The most widely held theory of politics is also the simplest: the powerful get what they want. Financial regulation is driven by the interests of banks, health policy by the interests of insurance companies, and tax policy by the interests of the rich. Those who can influence government the most – through their […]
In search of symmetry in the eurozone
De Grauwe, Paul. The analysis in this Commentary provides strong evidence that the burden of the adjustments to the imbalances in the eurozone between the surplus and the deficit countries is borne almost exclusively by the deficit countries in the periphery. And although the European Commission has now been invested with the important responsibility of […]
Why a More Flexible Renminbi Still Matters
Rogoff, Kenneth. One of the most notable macroeconomic developments in recent years has been the sharp drop in China’s current-account surplus. The International Monetary Fund is now forecasting a 2012 surplus of just 2.3% of GDP, down from a pre-crisis peak of 10.1% of GDP in 2007, owing largely to a decline in China’s trade […]
Austerity has brought Europe to the brink again
Summers, Lawrence. Once again European efforts to contain crisis have fallen short. It was perhaps reasonable to hope that the European Central Bank’s commitment to provide nearly a trillion dollars in cheap three-year funding to banks would, if not resolve the crisis, contain it for a significant interval. Unfortunately, this has proved little more than […]
Re-Capturing the Friedmans
DeLong, Bradford. On my desk right now are reporter Timothy Noah’s new book The Great Divergence: America’s Growing Inequality Crisis and What We Can Do about It and Milton and Rose Director Friedman’s classic Free to Choose: A Personal Statement. Considering them together, my overwhelming thought is that the Friedmans would find their task of […]
How Richer States Finance Poorer Ones
Reinhardt, Uwe. From time to time I attend symposiums on the euro crisis. I find the topic fascinating in its own right, and it also provides therapeutic relief from the dreariness of health policy in the United States. In comparison with international banking and finance, the American health sector is functioning rather well. Πηγή: The […]
The Unbearable Slowness of Internal Devaluation
Krugman, Paul. The euro area’s economic strategy, such as it is, rests on two pillars: confidence through austerity, and “internal devaluation”. You know how the first is going; what about the second? Πηγή: The New York Times πλήρες κείμενο
Fiscal consolidation in reformed vs. unreformed labour markets
Turrini, Alessandro. Most EU countries have embarked on a path of fiscal austerity. Would the employment impact of fiscal consolidation be more harmful if reforms liberalising the labour market were taken at the same time? This column argues that fiscal consolidations increase unemployment more in regulated labour markets because employment protection is associated with a […]