Soros, G., (2013), “Angela Merkel’s Pyrrhic Victory”, Project Syndicate, 07 October. As far as Germany is concerned, the drama of the euro crisis is over. The subject was barely discussed in the country’s recent election campaign. Chancellor Angela Merkel did what was necessary to ensure the euro’s survival, and she did so at the least possible cost to Germany – a feat that earned her the support of pro-European Germans …Read More

Roubini, N., (2013), “The Eurozone’s Calm before the Storm”, Project Syndicate, 30 September. A little more than a year ago, in the summer of 2012, the eurozone, faced with growing fears of a Greek exit and unsustainably high borrowing costs for Italy and Spain, appeared to be on the brink of collapse. Today, the risk that the monetary union could disintegrate has diminished significantly – but the factors that fueled …Read More

Kopczuk, W., Marion, J., Muehlegger, E. and  Slemrod, J., (2013), “Tax incidence in the presence of tax evasion”, VoxEU, 30 September. Tax evasion and noncompliance reduces government revenue and exacerbates the problem of increasing debt. Standard economic theory predicts that the identity of the tax remitter shouldn’t affect outcomes – but this ignores the possibility of evasion. This column provides evidence that in the presence of evasion, both the amount …Read More

Krugman, P., (2013), “Germany as Currency Manipulator”, The New York Times, The Conscience of a Liberal Blog, 27 September. […] The general point is that if we imagine a euro breakup, I think everyone would agree that the new mark would soar in value, making German manufacturing much less competitive. The German public imagines that it is being cruelly exploited for the benefit of lazy southerners; arguably, what’s really happening …Read More