Europe’s Way Out
Rodrik, Dani. It seems that austerity is out of fashion in the eurozone – at least for the moment. The European Commission has given Spain, France, and the Netherlands more time to comply with the European Union’s 3%-of-GDP deficit ceiling. Even German government officials now concede that something more than fiscal belt-tightening is needed to […]
Social protection budgets in the crisis in the EU
Bontout, Olivier, Lokajickova, Terezie. The first working paper in the 2013 series reviews social protection expenditure developments in the crisis, focusing on expenditure trends in volumes following the peak of the crisis (2009), on changes in the distribution of incomes and, notably, on the distributional impact of austerity packages. Πηγή: European Commission’s DG for Employment, Social […]
Καινά δαιμόνια στον ΟΟΣΑ
Βαρουφάκης, Γιάνης. Την περασμένη εβδομάδα συμμετείχα στις εργασίες του ΟΟΣΑ στο Παρίσι, στο πλαίσιο του ετήσιου Forum του διεθνούς οργανισμού, προσκεκλημένος του Γ.Γ. του ΟΟΣΑ, του κ. Άνχελ Γκούρια. Πριν τρεις μήνες είχα ξαναβρεθεί στο Παρίσι, και πάλι μετά από πρόσκληση του κ. Γκούρια, για να συζητήσουμε τις διεθνείς οικονομικές εξελίξεις. Απ΄ ό,τι μου είπε […]
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 […]
Rapid current-account rebalancing in the southern Eurozone
Auer, Raphael. Recent data show that the current-account deficits of Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal have improved at a rapid pace and are actually close to being balanced. This column reviews recent research that shows this adjustment has been remarkably fast. Compared to mid-2008, these four nations have switched expenditures at a rate that is […]
Should Germany Exit the Euro?
Sinn, Hans-Werner. Last summer, the financier George Soros urged Germany to agree to the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism, calling on the country to “lead or leave.” Now he says that Germany should exit the euro if it continues to block the introduction of Eurobonds. Πηγή: Project Syndicate πλήρες κείμενο
Europe’s growth problem (and what to do about it)
Darvas, Zsolt, Pisani-Ferry, Jean, Wolff, Guntram. The issue: The European Union’s pre-crisis growth performance was disappointing enough, but the performance has been even more dismal since the onset of the crisis. Weak growth is undermining private and public deleveraging,and is fuelling continued banking fragility. Persistently high unemployment is eroding skills, discouraging labour market participation and undermining […]