Wolf, M., (2013), “Why Draghi was right to cut rates”, The Financial Times, 12 Νοεμβρίου. Τhe monetary policy of the European Central Bank has been too tight. This is shown in the fall of core annual inflation to just 0.8 per cent in the year to October 2013. The case for the monetary easing undertaken last week was overwhelming. Indeed, it was long overdue. Yet, it has been leaked, the …Read More
Social Issues in Focus: New Generation Research on a Changing Greece
Fokas, Ε., Bozhilova, D., Vraniali, E., Prasopoulou E. and Chalari, A., (2013), Social Issues in Focus: New Generation Research on a Changing Greece, Athens: KERKYRA Publications SA – Economia Publishing. An LSE Collection of five papers of postdoc students of the “A.C. Laskaridis Post-Doctoral Fellowship”. The introduction of the current volume is written by Prof. Kevin Featherstone (Eleftherios Venizelos Professor of Contemporary Greek Studies and Professor of European Politics at …Read More
Revisiting sovereign bankruptcy
Buchheit, L., Weder di Mauro, B., Gelpern, A., Gulati, M., Panizza, U. and Zettelmeyer, J., (2013), “Revisiting sovereign bankruptcy”, VoxEU, 12 Νοεμβρίου. Sovereign-debt crises occur regularly and often violently. The recent debt crisis in Greece almost led to the collapse of the euro. Yet, there is no legally and politically recognised procedure for restructuring the debt of bankrupt sovereigns. Procedures of this type have been periodically debated – most recently, …Read More
Fiscal Consolidations and Growth: Does Speed Matter?
Pennings, S. and Pérez Ruiz, E., (2013), “Fiscal Consolidations and Growth: Does Speed Matter?”, International Monetary Fund, Working Paper No. 13/230, Νοέμβριος. Should fiscal consolidations be front-loaded or proceed at a more steady pace, and how does this affect growth? We make an attempt to address this question using a three-step methodology. First, we modify a standard regression of growth on consolidation size to allow speed to affect the multiplier. …Read More
Germany’s lack of reciprocity
Krugman, P., (2013), “Germany’s lack of reciprocity”, The New York Times, 12 Νοεμβρίου. Huge tensions over the ECB rate cut, with a split on the board and many German economists protesting. As usual, a lot of it is about the perception that those lazy southern Europeans are getting a free ride: A commentary by the chief economist of the financial weekly Wirtschaftswoche called the decision a “diktat from a new …Read More
The eurozone needs to get inflation up again
Münchau, W., (2013), “The eurozone needs to get inflation up again”, The Financial Times, 10 Νοεμβρίου. What surprised me last week was not the European Central Bank’s decision to cut interest rates, but that so few people had expected it. That is astonishing since the ECB is certain to fall short of its inflation target – achieving an annual rate of close to 2 per cent in the medium term. …Read More
Towards A Progressive Economy For Europe
Swoboda, Η. and Hughes, S., (2013), “Towards A Progressive Economy For Europe”, Social Europe Journal, 11 Νοεμβρίου. Europe’s current misfortune is not just that it was hit by the most severe financial crisis in decades. It has also come from the fact that this crisis occurred during a time in which economic thinking was, and still remains, dominated by old concepts and neoclassical models. Back in 2008 and 2009, survival …Read More
Turning Germany’s surplus into a win-win for the Eurozone
Rehn, O., (2013), “Turning Germany’s surplus into a win-win for the Eurozone”, Olli Rehn’s blog, 11 Νοεμβρίου. Germany’s current account surplus has been a subject of heated debate for some time. On the one side, there are regular calls for the country to reduce its surplus through fiscal stimulus, to lift southern Europe from its doldrums. On the other side, in Germany these calls are often regarded as jealous attacks …Read More
The perils of private-sector deleveraging in the Eurozone
Bornhorst, F. and Ruiz Arranz, M., (2013), “The perils of private-sector deleveraging in the Eurozone”, VoxEU, 10 Νοεμβρίου. Private and public debt in the Eurozone increased since the 2000s, and especially so in certain countries. This column presents evidence that high levels of private and public debt, together with deleveraging of all sectors, are especially harmful for economic growth. Private sector debt is more detrimental to growth than public sector …Read More
The real problem with German macroeconomic policy
Wren-Lewis, S., (2013), “The real problem with German macroeconomic policy”, Mainly Macro Blog, 03 Νοεμβρίου. Paul Krugman has been laying into Germany in the past few days . I think it might be interesting to look at two possible defences for the German position. The first is that they are doing what any government would do, which is act in their national interest. The second is that, for from being …Read More