The Editors: “Europe’s Crazy Finance Tax“, Bloomberg View, 02 November 2014. Wrangling among the 11 euro-region nations planning to tax financial transactions is further evidence, if any were needed, that the levy is a bad idea that should be abandoned. The European Commission acknowledges that the latest version of its planned financial transactions tax (or Tobin tax, or Robin Hood tax, if you prefer) isn’t the best option. That, …Read More
Hancké, Β. (2014) “German austerity is not only damaging the Eurozone, but is also starving the country of its own much needed investment“, LSE EUROPP, 03 November. A common argument in the context of the Eurozone’s economic problems is that Germany should pursue a more expansive fiscal policy to help generate growth in the rest of the single currency area. Bob Hancké writes, however, that while such a strategy …Read More
Bloomberg Editors (2014) “Europe’s Deadly Fiscal Paralysis“, Bloomberg View, 31 October. Quarrels over European Union budget policy don’t amount to much in themselves. Yet they demonstrate a pathology whose importance is hard to exaggerate. If growth in the euro area is not restored, the future of the union itself will be in jeopardy. Instead of grappling with this, however, Europe’s leaders are endlessly engaged with trivialities. Anti-EU sentiment has …Read More
Janssen, R. (2014) “Why Austerity Is Contagious“, Social Europe Journal, 27 October. Austerity is contagious: The case of France France is finding itself between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, with 54% of companies reporting in the third quarter 2014 that they find activity constrained by a lack of customers, the main problem is clearly on the side of demand. On the other hand, its …Read More
Richter, W. (2014) “The Wrath of Draghi: First German Bank Hits Savers with Negative Interest Rate“, ΘZeroHedge, 30 October. Deutsche Skatbank, a division of VR-Bank Altenburger Land, which was founded in 1859, is not the biggest bank in Germany, but it’s the first bank to confirm what German savers have been dreading for a while: the wrath of Draghi. Retail and business customers with over €500,000 on deposit as …Read More
Mody, A. (2014) “Are the Eurozone’s fiscal rules dying? – if so: good riddance“, Bruegel Institute, 28 October. The European Commission and European Council have blinked. Reprimanding France and Italy for their transgressions of the fiscal rules was too risky. With face-saving measures, France and Italy will now break the eurozone’s prized fiscal rules. While unseemly in the eurozone context, this is a good economic outcome. Forcing deeper austerity …Read More
Wren-Lewis, S. (2014) “Why the Eurozone suffers from a Germany problem“, Mainly Macro Blog, 26 October. When, almost a year ago, Paul Krugman wrote six posts within three days laying into the stance of Germany on the Eurozone’s macroeconomic problems, even I thought that maybe this was a bit too strong, although there was nothing in what he wrote that I disagreed with. Yet as Germany’s stance proved unyielding …Read More
Mishra, P. (2014) “How Germany Conquered Europe in 25 Years“, Bloomberg View, 26 October. On Nov. 9, Berlin will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the wall that divided the city during much of the Cold War. At the time, images of exuberant wall-breakers signaled the end of communism. A quarter-century later, the event seems to have also been a prelude to the rebirth of Berlin and …Read More
Salamone, A. (2014) “Britain’s EU membership hangs by one less thread“, Britain’s Europe Blog, 27 October. Britain, it seems, owes the European Union a certain sum of money. In every year since 2002, it has underpaid into the EU budget and the day of reckoning has finally arrived. However, as usual when it comes to ‘Europe’ for the UK, symbolism triumphs over substance. The country has been hit with …Read More
Nixon. S. (2014) “The Eurozone’s Problems Are Based in Politics“, Wall Street Journal, 19 October. Some say the euro crisis is back; others argue that it never really went away. A gloomy forecast from the International Monetary Fund suggesting a 40% chance of a slide back into recession and a flurry of weak data pointing to a faltering recovery, particularly in Germany, have spooked markets. Once again, the eurozone …Read More
