All Quiet on the Currency Front
Frankel, Jeffrey. The term “currency wars” is a catchy way of saying “competitive devaluation.” In the wake of the sharp fall in the value of the yen over the last six months, owing to the monetary component of Japan’s efforts to jump-start its economy, the issue is expected to feature prominently on the agenda at […]
Conflict Management and Economic Growth
Rajan, Raghuram. One of the most interesting aspects of the prolonged economic crisis in Europe, and of the even longer crisis in Japan, is the absence of serious social conflict – at least thus far. Yes, there have been strikes, marches, and growing anger at political leaders, but protests have been largely peaceful. Πηγή: Project […]
Austerity and Demoralization
Shiller, Robert. The high unemployment that we have today in Europe, the United States, and elsewhere is a tragedy, not just because of the aggregate output loss that it entails, but also because of the personal and emotional cost to the unemployed of not being a part of working society. Πηγή: Project Syndicate πλήρες κείμενο
Helicopter money as a policy option
Reichlin, Lucrezia, Turner, Adair & Woodford, Michael. With persistently weak economic conditions becoming the norm in Europe, economists are considering increasingly unconventional policy options. One tool that has yet to be taken out of storage is ‘helicopter money’, i.e. the overt monetary financing of government deficits. This column recounts a policy debate on helicopter money that […]
Austere Illusions
Skidelsky, Robert. The doctrine of imposing present pain for future benefit has a long history – stretching all the way back to Adam Smith and his praise of “parsimony.” It is particularly vociferous in “hard times.” In 1930, US President Herbert Hoover was advised by his treasury secretary, Andrew Mellon: “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate […]
Iceland’s post-Crisis economy: A myth or a miracle?
Danielsson, Jon. Ιcelandic voters recently ejected its post-Crisis government – a government that successfully avoided economic collapse when the odds were stacked against it. The new government comprises the same parties that were originally responsible for the Crisis. What’s going on? This column argues that this switch is, in fact, logical given the outgoing government’s […]
Νίκος Κουτσιαράς: Η δημοσιονομική ακροβασία –ενοποίηση- της ευρωζώνης
Η νηνεμία στις αγορές των κυβερνητικών ομολόγων της ευρωζώνης οφείλεται, κυρίως, στην (για την ώρα αδοκίμαστη) δέσμευση της Ευρωπαϊκής Κεντρικής Τράπεζας ότι θα αναλάβει ρόλο οιονεί δανειστή ύστατης καταφυγής των κυβερνήσεων και όχι στην δημοσιονομική λιτότητα και τις μεταρρυθμίσεις του καθεστώτος δημοσιονομικής και οικονομικής διακυβέρνησης. Τα σχέδια μεσο-μακροπρόθεσμης θεσμικής εμβάθυνσης της ευρωζώνης και, ειδικότερα, οι […]
What Use Are Economists?
Rodrik, Dani. When the stakes are high, it is no surprise that battling political opponents use whatever support they can garner from economists and other researchers. That is what happened when conservative American politicians and European Union officials latched on to the work of two Harvard professors – Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff – to […]
Rethinking macroeconomic policy
Blanchard, Olivier. Macroeconomics was challenged by the Global Crisis. In this column, one of the world’s leading macroeconomists provides his take on the highlights of the IMF’s recent conference. He concludes by noting that the conference set a clear research agenda for the future. Πηγή: Voxeu πλήρες κείμενο
The cat in the tree and further observations: Rethinking macroeconomic policy
Akerlof, George. Economists did very badly in predicting the crisis. But in this column, Nobelist George Akerlof argues that the economic policies post-crisis have been close to what a sensible ‘economist-doctor’ would have ordered. The lesson for the future is that good economics and common sense have worked well. We have had trial and success. […]